Reaching out to donors with thanks – and brunch

By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Editor

 

“We invited you here to express our appreciation for having made a significant donation to the hospital foundation.”

With those words, Peter Venturini, the president of the Mountains Community Hospital Foundation, greeted the donors who gathered on the terrace at SkyPark at Santa’s Village.

“Your support enables the Foundation to help the hospital maintain the quality care for our mountain residents and our visitors,” Venturini said. “Your donations are expressions of appreciation and support for our hospital and all who work there who consistently provide us with quality care.”

Gloria Wolen offered a bit of history: In the 1990s, Billie Yeager took her granddaughter to the hospital but had to sit on the curb waiting for her turn. There was no waiting room. And so, she decided to create a hospital foundation.

“Billie was an amazing woman,” Wolen said, “very generous, involved in a lot of organizations. She created the Summit Club; she was friends with some amazing people who joined her club.” More and more people joined, wanting to be invited to dinner at the Yeager home. And then Billie and her friend Agnes Koetsier decided to hold Le Grand Picnic; from the funds raised, they built a waiting room and started improving other areas.

Last year, said Kim McGuire, the executive director of the MCH Foundation and the hospital’s director of community development, “we raised more than $1 million. That’s pretty remarkable for a small rural hospital.

“We celebrated the opening of the new registration area, replaced defibrillators, purchased a hands-free communication system for the staff and helped the hospital purchase a anew ultrasound machine that can show tiny blood vessels and indicate blockages.”

All this, McGuire said, improves patient safety. “And your donations paid for these items.”

MCH is in the midst of planning several phases of construction, the first of which will be a required seismic retrofit. California, McGuire noted, “requires all hospitals to meet certain seismic standards by 2030. There are 671 buildings across 251 hospitals that do not meet the standards. Many of those hospitals do not have the money but I’m proud to say we are not one of them. We have stayed financially strong, which is a major achievement for the hospital and the entire community.”

CEO Mark Turner thanked the donors for completing the community survey, which they used in their strategic planning. Currently they are focusing on geriatric care, mental health awareness and behavioral health services.

“We are just about done with the internal remodel,” Turner announced. The gift shop is nearly done and the pharmacy has been moved for compliance purposes. The attention is now focused on the seismic compliance.

“We are fortunate to have the financial resources to become compliant,” Turner said. “We should have that done in the next year or so.”

Phase 2 of construction will create a new acute care wing and new emergency department. “We need more space and we need technology,” Turner said. By creating a new ED, MCH will be able to use the existing space for other services, like an urgent care facility, which they don’t currently have space for.

And Phase 3 will convert the existing acute care wing to additional Skilled Nursing Facility beds. The current SNF has 20 beds and always has a long waiting list.

Turner addressed the talk about cutting MediCal funding but said that “it’s too early to tell what impact it will have on us. We are staying in close contact with Rep. Jay Obernolte so he understands what impact a cut would have on us.”

As the brunch drew to a close, Rob Roy presented Venturini and McGuire with a check from the golf tournament his foundation holds each year. The Sisters of Orange – who initially ran the hospital – “did a great job running the hospital but they didn’t know how to collect money from those being discharged.” In the mid-1960s, a group of people got together to save the hospital for the community.

Since 1993, Roy said, they have raised $426,000 for equipment. He stressed the importance of a community hospital when an emergency occurs. “That is what our hospital is for, how important it is.”

Venturini reminded everyone about the upcoming Le Grand Picnic on July 20. This year’s theme is “Stayin’ Alive,” a celebration of many decades of staying alive.