Robert Merkle sees giving as more than an opportunity. For this Dallas executive, it became a calling.
An accidental landing while skydiving in 1993 brought Robert Merkle to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas with fractures in both heels and in his lower back. The severity of his injuries caused one of the physicians who initially examined him to declare Merkle’s injuries “life changing.”
Multiple surgeries to reconstruct Merkle’s heels and lower back were performed at Baylor Dallas. Through it all, Merkle remembers the extraordinary skill of the providers and the commitment to care that he received from the Baylor Dallas staff.
“The quality of care that I received at Baylor has had a profound and lasting impact on me,” he said.
After extensive physical therapy, Merkle regained his ability to walk and returned to his normal life in Dallas. But Merkle’s stay at Baylor Dallas did more than repair his injuries—it awakened in him a calling to express his gratitude to those who had cared for him, and to try to make a difference in the same way to others. He began by volunteering on weekends in the Emergency Department at Baylor Dallas and then involved himself in fund-raising for a cancer research group at Baylor Scott & White. Years later, he was asked to serve on the Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation Board, an organization that he continues to support.
“Robert is someone who has taken his gratitude and turned it into a direction for his own life,” Rowland K. Robinson, president of Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation, said. “The board benefits from his experience both as a business leader and as a former patient.”
Merkle and his family have also contributed financial support to specific Baylor Scott & White initiatives. Merkle credits the Foundation with giving him education on specific clinical needs and how those needs can be met with financial support, including providing equipment for the Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation, Baylor Scott & White Community Care clinics, and Canine Companions for Independence®.
When reflecting on the accident that first brought him to Baylor Scott & White, Merkle credits a greater force at play. “My accident was a life-changing event in several ways,” he said. “I wasn’t going to waste my second chance at life. Although I can never fully repay the great compassionate care shown to me at Baylor, I will continue to ‘pay it forward’ to try to help others.”
