Decades of Care: Davis Family Hopes Their Estate Gift Will Help Strengthen UMass Memorial Health’s Future

Sarah and Dix Davis’ journey with UMass Memorial Health started in 1970 when their oldest son was born at UMass Memorial Medical Center – Memorial Campus. Their second son was also born there in 1972, and then their daughter Margaret was born six weeks premature in 1977. Margaret spent two weeks in the UMass Memorial NICU where she received life-saving care.

“The NICU had opened just three years prior,” says Sarah. “There has been so much progress in medicine since then that if a baby is born prematurely now, while still a challenging time for the family, there is a lot more that can be done. However, in 1977, it was even more anxiety inducing.”

Margaret recovered and went on to thrive.

In a full circle moment, Margaret worked for two summers during college with Francis "Frank" J. Bednarek, MD, who was the head of the NICU when Margaret was born and saved her life. After college, she attended UMass Chan Medical School and completed a pediatric residency at UMass Memorial Medical Center. Margaret, better known as “Dr. Werner” to her patients at Boston Children’s Hospital where she is a pediatric urologist, is one of the primary reasons Sarah and Dix are leaving estate gifts to both UMass Memorial Medical Center and HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital.

“The wonderful doctors and top experts at both hospitals have long taken care of our family,” says Sarah. “Even as recently as last year when Dix fell and needed extensive care, UMass Memorial has always been able to provide for us when we need it most.”

However, Dix is not just a patient of UMass Memorial Health—he has played a key role as the hospitals have evolved over the years. His leadership and business acumen have had a tremendous impact on the system.

“I served on the Board when Holden and Hahnemann Hospitals merged with Memorial Hospital to become UMass Memorial Medical Center,” says Dix, “and when HealthAlliance became part of the system.”

Sarah and Dix have also been involved through their unique role as standardized patients—trained patient actors—at the Medical School, teaching important bedside manner and patient history techniques to the next generation of doctors across the system and beyond. Sarah and Dix volunteered in these roles for 22 and 20 years, respectively. Sarah went on to be a standardized patient trainer, helping run the program through the COVID-19 pandemic and even training the standardized patients who were sent to Tufts Medical School.

“The standardized patient program was another way for Dix and me to give back,” says Sarah. “And as we age and people are living longer, we recognize that doctors are seeing more complex geriatric cases. So, it is important that future doctors know how to care for older patients.”

These deep, myriad connections are why Sarah and Dix are happy to support the hospital. They have witnessed growth like mergers, the building of the Medical Center University Campus, and the opening of the North Pavilion, just to name a few.

“I think that the hospital must always be growing and reinventing itself,” says Sarah. “Dix and I hope that our estate gifts will help in the continuous improving of space and in meeting the needs of countless patients and families like ours.”