BVMI’s 15th Anniversary Gala honored Tom Duch, Esq. for his role in expanding access to BVMI’s lifesaving healthcare. Tom is proud to be the driver in an effort to open BVMI@UnityHealth, which will provide free healthcare to uninsured residents of southern Bergen County. Tom understands the profound impact that accessible healthcare will bring to this community, and is excited to see BVMI@UnityHealth grow from a dream to reality in early 2025. Watch this short video to learn why this effort is so important to Tom.
Read the full transcript:
When you talk about Garfield, people mention Tom Duch. if you walk around Garfield with Tom, he knows everybody I kept hearing, oh, he’s Mr. Garfield, he’s Mr. Garfield. Well, he is Mr. Garfield.
My father is like the city of Garfield. And that’s due to the years of service he offered to the community. And it’s truly amazing what he has done over the years as city manager and as mayor.
I was born and raised in the city of Garfield. I went to number eight school, graduated Garfield High School. And I was blessed with, an election victory and became the mayor and Garfield at 23 years of age. It was a great job. Very diverse community, a lot of immigrant people. A great place to work. Challenging. Wonderful to go to work every day.
He spearheaded massive redevelopment across the town. He’s been a member of the Boys and Girls Club, probably since he was, I don’t know, eight years old. I think what’s unique about Tom, it’s not about Tom. It’s always about Garfield and serving people and helping people.
He has roots in Garfield, and he was born in Garfield. He was the city manager. And now he’s the chief operating officer for Bergen County. He always wants to do good and he never says no. Someone asks for something. He always looks into it,
Tom has this knack of getting people to support organizations. And this is one of the most important organizations that Tom is part of. Bringing BVMI to Garfield.
It’s going to give people an opportunity, for care that they’ve not had before. It’s a great place for the second location for BVMI to be located and I decided I wanted to be part of that effort.
I don’t think that I’ve ever seen somebody who was not connected to BVMI at all leap in with as much enthusiasm as Tom. He sees this as something that is going to be such a huge benefit to the people of Garfield and the surrounding area.
To see the success that BVMI has in Hackensack, to bring something like this to Garfield, you know, he’s going to go above and beyond.
He’s going to go not only to the county, he’s going to go to the state, and he’s going to do everything he can to bring this project into Garfield, because Garfield has a special place in his heart.
I’ve always been very proud of the fact that I was able to serve, a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multi religious community. It’s meant a lot to me personally. It’s been a very personally satisfying, bringing BVMI to Garfield. It’s just going to be like the icing on the cake.
Dad, our whole family is so proud of you. It is an honor to be celebrated by BVMI. You do amazing work and everything you do in Garfield and the county. It’s truly, truly incredible.
