Vim & Vigor - Fall 2012 - Community Healthcare - (Page 3)

Community Briefs care packages C Auxiliary gift shops are at the heart of fundraising oming into the hospital to visit a loved one, you stop by the gift shop to pick up an item that will help to brighten her day. But did you know that the giving doesn’t stop with your purchase? It also helps to touch the lives of future patients and healthcare workers in training. Behind the scenes at Community Healthcare System’s hospitals, auxiliary members, or volunteers are united in a common purpose—to support the hospitals’ services and programs, and to help educate future healthcare professionals for the benefit of the community. Among the auxiliaries’ main fundraising activities are the hospital gift shops. The shops are run entirely by auxiliary members with all profits going toward hospital projects. Volunteers Ellen Osterman (left) and Evelyn Gossman are members of the Community Hospital Auxiliary. Making a Big iMpact Collectively over the past 10 years, the auxiliaries of Community Hospital, St. Catherine Hospital and St. Mary Medical Center have contributed more than $5 million in support of these hospitals. Community Hospital auxiliary donations have helped fund Emergency department renovations/ expansion, a new digital camera and printer for the Mother/Child Center, and the Cancer Research Foundation and Cancer Resource Centre programs and services. St. Catherine Hospital auxiliary has contributed to several projects through the years, including a new hospital intercom system, an electric organ and stained glass windows for the chapel and Care Van St. Mary Medical Center Auxiliary members include Alyce Weidner (left) and Irene Watasek (right). and E-Z-Go Shuttle for patient transportation from the parking lot to the hospital door. In addition to the annual donation, gift baskets are provided to outside charitable organizations, including MOTTEP, Nazareth House, Bethany Retreat House, Share Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis, JDRF, School City of East Chicago and the American Heart Association. At St. Mary Medical Center, auxiliary contributions have ranged from state-of-the-art infant bassinets with new lights and warmers for the hospital’s Labor and Delivery department and ICU and Emergency department expansion projects, to new equipment for the hospital’s Acute Rehabilitation Unit to assist patients who are immobile or who need help standing. In response to the growing need of support for future healthcare professionals, the auxiliary began providing scholarships to graduating teen volunteers and employees’ children pursuing careers in healthcare. An average of $25,000 is awarded per year at each hospital to the Scholarship Fund. “Our auxilians are a very dedicated group of individuals—very giving, loving and caring,” says John Gorski, Community Healthcare System’s chief operating officer. “These volunteers give of themselves and don’t expect anything in return. They are paying it forward for the greater good of our community.” By Elise Sims online Volunteering your time is good for your community, and may help to improve you own overall well-being. To learn about the different ways you can give back, visit www.comhs.org/ways_to_give. Help Your Hospital, Help Yourself Vim & Vigor • FAL L 2012 3 http://www.comhs.org/ways_to_give

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Fall 2012 - Community Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2012 - Community Healthcare
Contents
Community Message
Care Packages
Going for the Gold
When Less Is More
30 Days to Better Sleep
I Can’t Ask My Doctor That!ers
He Said, She Said
Hold On to Your Health
Still A Screening Star
Your Joints: An Owner’s Manual
Weighing Your Options
No Greater Gift
Weather Alert
Virtual Health
Stretch It Out
SPOTLIGHT ON: St. Mary Medical Center
SPOTLIGHT ON: St. Catherine Hospital
SPOTLIGHT ON: Community Hospital
Finding a Dream Job

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2012 - Community Healthcare