I was nearing the end of a lengthy voicemail message when Stefania Romoff picked up.
And in a few short minutes, I learned firsthand what happens when you’re on the wrong side of her husband, UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff.
▪ ▪ ▪
Stefania Ferrarese Romoff, a native of Italy, has made her mark in Pittsburgh, and not because she is the wife — though now estranged — of one the wealthiest and most powerful men in town. She is a photographer, owns her own business and, perhaps most important, is known for her passionate advocacy of animals and her hands-on support of the highly respected Animal Friends organization, founded in 1943 and based in the North Hills.
Ms. Romoff met Mr. Romoff — 22 years her senior — when she was 35 and living in Squirrel Hill. Mr. Romoff, whose third marriage had ended in divorce in 2001, was working on a UPMC development in Sicily. He had begun taking Italian lessons from then-Ms. Ferrarese. The lessons evolved into something more and they married Dec. 26, 2002, at his home in the North Hills.
Mr. Romoff’s life took on a whole new shape. Literally and figuratively. He lost 80 pounds; he began dressing more stylishly; and the couple began working the social scene (something Mr. Romoff had never done). He was known to, on occasion, introduce his new wife to acquaintances with, “Have you met my daughter?” (He does, in fact, have two grown daughters.)
By the end of the first decade of their marriage, Mr. Romoff had built an empire at UPMC. And Ms. Romoff was knee-deep in animal advocacy with Animal Friends. A longtime lover of cats, she had joined the board of directors of the nonprofit that serves as an animal shelter, a center for low-cost spaying and neutering, and so very much more.
The “so very much more” includes animal-human therapy outreach known as Therapets.
▪ ▪ ▪
Not long after Ms. Romoff joined the Animal Friends board, the agency won a $300,000 grant from UPMC for the Therapets program.
“It’s a great, great program,” said Kathleen Beaver, chief strategy officer for Animal Friends and an employee for 22 years.
Animal Friends had initiated a pet therapy program in the 1990s but, with encouragement from newly named board member Ms. Romoff, the agency had relaunched the program, branding it as Therapets.
“We always knew the value of the human-animal bond. We were able to really develop the program after Stefania came onto the board,’’ Ms. Beaver recalled. “Stefania was incredibly supportive of all our programs, but the therapy program was special and she had an integral part in getting that funding [from UPMC].”
Ms. Romoff’s passion for animals even seemed to rub off on her husband. He was photographed at fundraisers for Animal Friends, and they were featured in an area publication as being a “couple supporter” of the group.
It didn’t take long after the initial funding application was filed with UPMC to get word of the $300,000 grant over three years. That was spring of 2013. Three years went quickly. The Therapet program grew. And the contract was renewed for another three years with even greater financial support from UPMC: $375,000.
▪ ▪ ▪
The program was a huge success. In fact, UPMC profiled it in a June 2017 article published on the “Inside Life Changing Medicine” blog. The headline: “Something to Bark About.” An excerpt: “‘Pet therapy visits are certainly for patients, but the family members and staff are just as important,’ said Melissa Saul, a clinical data scientist at UPMC Montefiore, whose dog, Blue Suede Shoes, is a certified Therapet. ‘It takes the atmosphere of the unit to a different level.’”
Then, trouble in paradise.
By the time the third grant application was being submitted by Animal Friends to UPMC a few months ago, Mr. and Ms. Romoff had become estranged and were separated. Nonetheless, Animal Friends turned in the request, but heard nothing.
“We were concerned. Usually, there was a quick turnaround,” Ms. Beaver said. “We knew [the Romoffs] were separating, and it seemed logical to be concerned when we weren’t hearing anything. But we didn’t know. We were wondering. We were worried.”
The wondering ended in April when Animal Friends was notified that UPMC had denied the grant application for Therapets. No decrease in money. No shortening of the contract. It was just flat turned down. (I tried to reach UPMC for comment but no response.)
▪ ▪ ▪
Ms. Romoff didn’t want to badmouth Mr. Romoff in our conversation the other day, though I had given her the opportunity, asking her to comment on the matter at hand: whether Jeffrey Romoff had killed funding for a valuable nonprofit program that benefits patients in his own hospital facilities because of his marital split (which she had confirmed to me, noting: “We are separated. I haven’t talked to him for a long time”).
Ms. Romoff responded with more control than I could have mustered had I been in her shoes: “I won’t speculate.”
Her message was this: “I want to assure the community that Animal Friends will do our best to continue the program because we know how valuable it is to hospitals and schools and nursing homes. We will try to find alternative funding. We will continue with this program.”
Ms. Beaver echoed those remarks. There are 142 volunteer teams in place, pairing humans with animals, mostly dogs but also cats and rabbits. Visits will be uninterrupted. General-fund dollars will be tapped until new sponsorship is found. “People need us,” she said. The Therapet teams visit 84 facilities, including many UPMC operations, such as the Hillman Cancer Center about which Ms. Beaver made special mention of the impactful bond between Therapet teams and cancer patients.
▪ ▪ ▪
I wrote this column not just because I sympathize with Animal Friends — collateral damage in Mr. Romoff’s effort to poke his estranged wife where it would hurt most? I wrote this column as a warning to anyone who can still somehow think that Mr. Romoff cares about anything but his mission — which is not life-changing medicine. It is winning.
Old people and cancer patients with Highmark insurance will lose affordable, reasonable access to UPMC facilities next month. Their stories are heartbreaking. If Mr. Romoff cared, he’d sit down with Highmark and negotiate a contract that works for everyone. But he refuses even to try.
In three years, a contract between Highmark and Children’s Hospital will expire. UPMC tells us it will work to get another contract so sick kids won’t have to travel to Ohio or Baltimore or New York for specialized treatment. I won’t believe it until a new contract is signed. I believe that if those sick kids can be used as bargaining chips in Mr. Romoff’s high-stakes poker game, he’ll use them. And in what she said and in what she didn’t say, Ms. Romoff told me so.
Karen Kane is a Post-Gazette editorial board member (kkane@post-gazette.com, 724-772-9180, Twitter: @KarenKanePG).
First Published: May 17, 2019, 4:00 a.m.