Maine Medical Center in Portland has received a $1 million pledge from Jon and Dan Shaw, founders of Gorham-based Shaw Brothers Construction, in honor of the brothers’ late mother.

In recognition and appreciation, Maine Med will name an open-air causeway, to be built on Congress Street in front of a new patient care tower, in honor of their mother, Sally Shaw. The contribution is the single largest donation pledge in the Shaw brothers’ philanthropic history, according to Maine Med.

Sally Shaw Photo courtesy of Shaw Brothers Construction

“Jon and Dan are incredibly generous people who are deeply committed to this community,” said Maine Med CEO and MaineHealth President Richard Petersen in a statement. “We’re exceptionally grateful for the support they have shown over the years that has helped lay the groundwork for environments of care that improve the health of people throughout Maine and New Hampshire. This important contribution will move us closer to our vision of making Maine’s communities the healthiest in America.”

The Sally Shaw Causeway is designed to be a welcoming space for the roughly 24,000 patients and families who are expected to pass through the entrance to the Portland hospital’s new Congress Street Tower each year, once construction is complete in 2023. A sloping, tree-lined path will include native plants and boulders, and natural seating will provide fresh air and sunshine to all those spending time at the hospital, the statement said.

Maine Med chose to honor the memory of Sally Shaw with a natural setting because of her love of gardening, and the feel and smell of soil, it said. Sally Shaw was known to can vegetables and share perennials with her family and friends, even as she raised nine children on a farm in Gorham with her husband, Dewayn Shaw, who was her high school sweetheart. Their sons have focused many of their philanthropic efforts on helping community members enjoy the outdoors.

Maine Med is expected to break ground on the patient tower and causeway this fall. The tower will add five floors of clinical services including 64 patient rooms with universal beds and 19 procedure rooms. It will become the new home of cardiovascular care at Maine Med. The hospital said its vision for patient-centered care that serves Maine’s most complex cases in a state-of-the-art setting resonated with the Shaw brothers.

“Maine Medical Center has been there for our employees, our families and for anyone who needs quality medical care,” Jon Shaw said.

Dan Shaw added, “Shaw Brothers Construction is proud to support (the hospital’s) modernization while honoring our mother. We believe that the Sally Shaw Causeway will serve as a living testament to her love for family, gardening and community.”

The Congress Street Tower expansion project was unanimously approved in December 2018 by the Portland Planning Board as part of the third site plan application under the hospital’s $534 million expansion and modernization project. The entire project will add 128 private rooms and 19 procedure rooms for surgeries and other complex treatments, and it will provide additional parking for patients, visitors and staff. It will also include a medical office building allowing the hospital to further develop its ambulatory care practices in Scarborough.

In recognition of the service provided over the years by Shaw Brothers on Maine Med campuses, the hospital also will be naming a new road in their honor on the Scarborough campus. Shaw Brothers Way will lead patients to the new medical office building under construction that will house neurology, neurosurgery and vascular surgery, it said. The new medical office building is on schedule for completion in early 2021.

Shaw Brothers has received two competitively bid subcontracts on Maine Med’s facility expansion project. The awards were based on the company’s safety record, pricing and local hiring, it said.