Cancer Survivors Park opens
When Richard A. Bloch, co-founder of tax preparation giant H&R Block, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer on March 29, 1978, he was given just three months to live. Still cancer-free more than 23 years later, Bloch flew into Sacramento on a crisp winter day in December to dedicate the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Park at UC Davis Medical Center.

Made possible by an $850,000 gift from the R. A. Bloch Cancer Foundation and more than $40,000 from local donors, the 1.2-acre park is located at Stockton Boulevard and 2nd Avenue on land donated by the UC Davis Health System. The park features a bronze sculpture, a “positive mental attitude walk” with 14 inspirational messages, and a “road to recovery” with seven motivational plaques.
The new park is the 18th built by the Bloch foundation. The first was established in Kansas City, Mo., Bloch’s hometown, in 1989. Parks followed in Orlando, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and a dozen other cities.

“This handsome park is a wonderful addition to our campus, and will provide a much-needed place of solace and comfort for our patients and their families from throughout the region,” says Robert E. Chason, chief operating officer of the UC Davis Health System. “Cancer is a disease that touches all of us in some way, but Dick Bloch, and this park, are living reminders that there is hope.”
If you would like to honor a cancer survivor or special health-care provider, please call (916) 734-9400 to ask about naming opportunities.

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Richard and Annette Bloch at the Cancer Survivors Park dedication.