Editor's note: "Spotlight on Sharing" is an ongoing series published in The Sentinel on the third Tuesday of each month. Featured are stories that focus on people and organizations who give back to the Juniata Valley in a meaningful way. Whether through the donation of time, resources, ideas or manpower, their efforts help make our community a place we are proud to call home.
LEWISTOWN - Because of The Friends of Lewistown Hospital, the community can take comfort in knowing something is being done to make sure local health care remains local.
"Friends" speak up
Friends of Lewistown Hospital is a volunteer organization dedicated to the Lewistown Healthcare Foundation, of which Lewistown Hospital is a part.
The group benefits the local healthcare community in many ways, says Deborah Yingling, volunteer coordinator at Lewistown Hospital. Many of its projects are designated, in that funds are specifically allocated to a certain area in the hospital. The annual charity golf tournament is a
designated project, Yingling said, and this year it will benefit Lewistown Hospital's The Family Place. Funds will be used to provide free new parent education classes and car seats to all participants.
"What we do is kind of fill a need within the hospital," Yingling said.
Those needs are ones that may not be seen when the hospital does its capital budgets, she said. Money raised by Friends helps with those.
In addition to the designated projects, Friends also undertakes smaller projects. Money raised through these smaller projects is put into an account, so if the hospital needs money for improvements or other miscellaneous items, it can get assistance.
An example of this is the new TVs in the hospital waiting rooms, Yingling said.
Each year Friends holds a variety of events in addition to the golf tournament, such as the Festival of Baskets and usually a fall event, which this year may be a bluegrass festival in September.
"We try to have at least something seasonally," Yingling said.
Yingling said Friends members and participants are diverse. The organization incorporates a lot of different people in many different locations, which is beneficial to gaining a good perspective on its efforts, as well as getting the word out to many different types of people.
"It brings a lot of new ideas in," she said.
Tawny Mummah, Friends board member, says Friends is important because it supports the hospital.
"(The) hospital provides care for so many people," she said.
Local residents don't have to travel far to get care, Mummah said, because of Lewistown Hospital. Also, the hospital is a "major employer" of the area, she said.
Without Lewistown Hospital, emergency care is 45 minutes to an hour away "for a large sector of this community," Mummah said.
Mummah also says 10 percent of every Friends fundraising effort or activity goes to Lewistown Hospital's endowment fund, which is set aside for future use.
The money is only used in an emergency, she sys, such as "if for some reason there would be some sort of financial problem at Lewistown Hospital."
Specifically, Friends efforts have been able to increase the amount of money given for Sophie Snook Scholarships, which help students pay for the Lewistown Hospital School of Nursing, she said.
"I really just enjoy the people that are on the board," Mummah said. "It's just a really good group of people."
Oksana DeArment, president-elect of Friends, says the organization is committed to the hospital, but also to the community.
Because of Friends, $1,500 is able to be given for the Snook Scholarship Fund, when in past years it had been $1,000, DeArment said.
More money is provided because the funds are available, she said, and also because more is better when it comes to scholarships. Anybody who wants to pursue a career in health care may be more encouraged with a larger scholarship, she said. Four scholarships are given each year to a hospital employee, a school of nursing student or someone who has been accepted to the school.
Friends also helps with uniform sales at the hospital by bringing in vendors, DeArment says.
The event, which is held several times a year, is "great" in serving the nurses, DeArment said.
"It's right here," she said. "They don't have to go to the store outside of their (work) hours."
Money raised from the uniform sales goes into Friends' general fund, DeArment said.
Nancy Laub, president of Friends, says the main reason she's involved with the organization is because "I believe that Lewistown Hospital is an essential part of our community and I would like to see it be here always."
Areas of help include new equipment for the cancer treatment center, which was made available by funds from Friends' 2007 wine tasting fundraiser, Laub said.
Also, all of the money that's put into the hospital vending machines goes toward the Snook Scholarship Fund, she said. And Friends gives money to the school of nursing to defer the cost of the accreditation process.
Laub said Friends is not just a friend of the hospital and a friend of the community. It helps make the hospital a better place, whether by helping it purchase new equipment or making it more comfortable for patients and their loved ones.
"That's why we're Friends," Laub said.
DeArment said it's very important to have an organization like Friends for the hospital because the hospital is able to do a variety of improvements and programs it wouldn't be able to pay for without Friends.
"Friends ... helps to improve different aspects of the hospital," she said.
History of Friends
Friends is basically what The Lewistown Hospital Auxiliary used to be, in that it raises funds to benefit the hospital. The auxiliary shut down in July 2007, which is when Friends was born, Yingling said.
What makes Friends different from the auxiliary is that there are no dues, Yingling said, and anybody that does anything with the hospital is considered a "Friend," whether he or she helps out at the hospital front desk, is on the Friends board, or assists with events.
There are about 150 to 200 Friends members, Yingling says, adding that all in-house hospital volunteers are considered Friends.
The purpose of the re-structuring of the auxiliary into Friends is to re-create a group that caters to all ages and brings in fresh perspectives and ideas on fundraising, DeArment said.
DeArment also said the name "Friends" sounds more appealing to the general public.
"That kind of brings in a lot of different individuals," she said about the name.
She also said the name helps make people feel like they contribute to the organization, regardless of their role.
"It's broader than just one auxiliary," DeArment said. "The community almost becomes part of the organization."
DeArment says people involved in Friends all share the same belief that the hospital is important to the community, which is why they participate in the organization.
"Everybody wants to make sure the hospital sticks around," she said.
How else does Friends help?
According to literature provided by Lewistown Hospital, the 2009 Golf Classic supported the purchase of portable monitor/defibrillators for Medic 29 that are capable of transmitting an electrocardiogram to Lewistown Hospital.
Friends members participate in Daffodil Days to benefit the American Cancer Society and in 2008 created the Friends Legacy Endowment Fund to help assure Lewistown Hospital will serve future generations. Additionally, the Partners in Education Scholarship is awarded to five employees and five employees' dependents each year for those enrolled in a post-secondary healthcare-related program. The scholarship is sponsored by Lewistown Hospital and Nightingale Gift Shop, according to the literature.
More information/get involved
The Friends of Lewistown Hospital is a volunteer organization committed to providing quality services, programs, philanthropic advancement and fundraising for the Lewistown Healthcare Foundation and community, according to hospital literature.
People can become involved in a variety of ways:
Being a part of the In-house Volunteer Program, in which participants directly help in one of the hospital departments by enhancing services provided to patients and visitors.
Volunteering to help at fundraising events.
Donating time to help with mailings, special projects or to help staff the hospital gift shop.
Using your talent to help knit or sew patient gifts such as caps for newborn babies at Lewistown Hospital, or blankets for pediatric patients.
Some volunteer assignments include: magazine delivery, office/clerical support, patient greeter, pre-admission testing, patient care units, fund development/community relations, information desk, summer teen program and chaplain's calling program, according to the literature.
Volunteers must be at least 14 years of age. For more information call Yingling at 242-7225.
