Grigsby-Rocca Foundation to Travel to Malawi, Africa November 9th–22nd, 2008 to Offer Palliative Health Care and Community Development
(November 10, 2008)—Dr. Eric Grigsby and Dr. Mary Rocca, husband and wife founders of the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation and proprietors of Napa Valley’s Rocca Family Vineyards, have partnered with the Mayo Clinic on their Malawi Health Initiative. The Mayo Alumni Association has adopted the Malawi initiative as their primary effort of their “Serve the Underserved” program. In addition, the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine Program in Underserved Global Health is partnering with the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation to explore opportunities for education, advocacy and patient care in Malawi with an emphasis on palliative care.
The Grigsby-Rocca Foundation was founded in 1997 to support health care and community development in underserved communities around the world by promoting education, advocacy, increasing the availability of pain medications, and palliative, end-of-life care for AIDS patients. Much of the foundation’s work thus far has focused on The Republic of Malawi, a small, land-locked country of about 12 million people in Southeast Africa. The foundation’s next scheduled trip to Malawi is in November of 2008.“Mary and I moved to Napa with the dream of owning vineyard land, but we never lost sight of the larger international community,” comments Dr. Eric Grigsby. “Malawi is in dire need of our help. They are a very poor country and nearly 20% of the population is affected by the AIDS virus. Mary and I consider ourselves fortunate to have some medical expertise and we’ve made it our mission to establish the necessary medical infrastructure around the world to offer palliative, end-of-life care,” he adds.
Currently ranked the number two hospital in the nation by US News & World Report, the Rochester, MN based Mayo Clinic’s mission is to provide the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education and research. Dr. Eric Grigsby was trained in Anesthesiology and Pain Management at the Mayo Clinic. After five years of post-graduate training, he was invited to join the medical staff and teach at the Mayo Medical School until moving to California in 1989. The Mayo Clinic’s partnership with the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation marks Mayo’s first significant outreach to African health care.
About Rocca Family Vineyards
Vintners Mary Rocca and Eric Grigsby are crafting some of the most elegant, complex and intensely-flavored Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah in the Napa Valley today. Rocca’s wines have consistently finished ahead of more established and expensive Napa Valley wines in high-profile tastings, and they are poised to enter the ranks of Napa’s most coveted cult names.
The true heart and soul of Rocca Family Vineyards lies in Mary Rocca and Eric Grigsby’s passion for land, community and family. They are a dynamic couple who have applied their business experience towards the pursuit of excellence in winemaking. Before becoming a vintner in 1999, Mary ran her own dental practice, while Eric is a Pain Management Specialist based in Napa. Mary is also the proprietor of the Palace Market, a small grocery store in Point Reyes, and together with Eric, runs the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation, which promotes health care and community development in underserved communities around the world.
About the Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year.
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