The honorees

The Community General Foundation will bestow special honors October 23 at its annual gala at the Hotel Syracuse.

Honored for its service to community will be Burns Brothers, represented by its President and CEO, David Burns (at left).

For medical service to community, the FamilyCare Medical Group, PC, will be honored, represented by its President & CEO, David Page, M.D. (at right).

Recognized for their service to Community General Hospital will be three past members of the Board: William Burrows, a retired partner from Bond Schoeneck & King, LLP (top photo, in the series, below) ; Donald Dew, Sr., past President & CEO of Diemolding Corporation (middle, series); and John "Jack" Morrissey, a retired partner from Mackenzie Hughes, LLP (bottom, series).

With corporate offices in Syracuse, Burns Brothers provides industrial piping services, including plumbing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems throughout the northeast. The company was founded in 1901 as a family business, and today its companies include Burns Bros. Contractors, Inc. (mechanical construction), Burns Cascade (industrial supplier of pipe, valves, fittings, and control and instrumentation products), and Burns Bros. Fabrication/Modular Systems. Burns Brothers has been a generous donor to Community General Hospital.

Founded in 1994 as a merger of eight small practices, FamilyCare is today the largest primary care medical group in Central New York with some 60 physicians, plus mid-level practitioners, practicing throughout Central New York. Among its diversified services, Practices Resources, LLC, is the group's wholly-owned subsidiary, offering billing and management services to dozens of independent medical practices throughout Upstate New York.

The past hospital directors served during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Mr. Burrows was a hospital director from 1974 -1984, an officer from 1985 – 1998, and a director of an affiliated company from 1998- 2005. Mr. Dew completed three full terms as a director from 1987 - 1996. Mr. Morrissey served as a director from 1981-1987, was an officer in 1988-1989, and served additional terms as a director from 1989- 1997.

The three directors have a combined service to Community General Hospital of 56 years!

Congratulations to all.

It's a blog world, after all

I recently wrote about the blogs by hospital CEOs. Well, Nurseblogger has expanded my vision with its list of “top 50 hospital blogs.” CEOs, nurses, and physicians are blogging. Check out the list.

Claire Wightman,a volunteer for 36 years

Featured in CNY Magazine (below) is Claire Wightman, a volunteer at Community General Hospital for 36 years.

Yes, 36.

Claire has logged 17,166 hours of volunteer service at Community. If you’re counting, that is the equivalent of 8 ¼ years if she were a full-time employee. But she is not an employee. Claire volunteers her time and concern to help patients and employees. And in the process, she shares her interests and her energetic, engaged, and positive outlook with everyone.

Claire is also a long-standing member of the Auxiliary board of directors. She was honored last year by Community’s volunteers for her exemplary service.

It’s great so see you recognized, Claire, in the larger Central New York community.

'Test drive' the daVinci robot on Sep 28

With the American Cancer Society and Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation, Community General Hospital will host a prostate cancer awareness event on Monday, September 28 at 5:00 p.m. in Suite 1D in the Physician’s Office Building-South.

The free event will feature Drs. Po Lam and Andres Madissoo, who diagnose and treat prostate cancer. Both surgeons are fully credentialed in use of the daVinci surgical robot.

Those attending the event will actually be able to "test drive" Community's daVinci robot. To attend, call the physician referral line at 315.492.5940.

Not all men with prostate cancer are candidates for surgery. There are other treatment options, including hormonal therapy, radiotherapy, and "watchful waiting." For those who are surgical candidates, the daVinci robot represents the state of the art for prostate surgery.

September is prostate cancer awareness month.

September 11

We mourn still. We mourn anew.

Community generosity

Congratulations to Dr. Tom Welch[1], the faculty, staff, and administration of the new Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital – and to the hospital's donors. The new Children's Hospital is pictured below.

Today’s story in The Post-Standard reports on the generosity of the community in raising funds for the new hospital:

The children's hospital at SUNY Upstate Medical University opening Thursday may be named after its biggest benefactor, businessman B. Thomas Golisano, who donated $6 million. But the new facility is as much a testament to the generosity of more than 8,000 donors, many of whom conducted grassroots fundraising in their neighborhoods, schools and workplaces.

The grassroots donors gave $15 million, the largest community-based capital fundraising haul in Syracuse history.

In a letter to The Post-Standard today, Dr. Welch acknowledges the leadership of Mary Ann Shaw, who chaired the Children’s Hospital fund drive.

I was reminded of the role played by Leonard Markert, Sr. in another hospital fund campaign – it was conducted some fifty years ago, and it built Community Hospital on Onondaga Hill, shown under construction in the photo, above.

Like the Children's Hospital fund campaign, the one that built Community Hospital was broad-based, and it too surpassed the goal.

On June 6, 1958, the Syracuse Herald-Journal[2] reported the Community Hospital Fund exceeded the $6 million goal by nearly $1 million. The paper quoted Carl Maar[3], who commended Mr. Market for campaign leadership, calling him

a man in a hurry whenever there’s a job to be done for the good of his neighbors. Long since, he has earned the admiration and affection of his townsmen. In this enterprise, the most ambitious civic undertaking in the life of the community, he has earned new distinction as a truly great citizen.

Under Mr. Markert’s leadership, that Community Hospital Fund had 15,000 donors and raised $6,963,954, as of June 1958. In today’s dollars, that is the equivalent of $51,892,527![4]

As we salute the Central New York generosity in funding the Children’s Hospital, I recall the past generosity for Community Hospital. Thanks to Mary Ann Shaw and to the 8,000 donors who assisted her, and remember with gratitude Leonard Market, Sr., and the 15,000 donors who assisted him in 1958.

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[1] Dr. Welch, a professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at SUNY Upstate Medical University, is the medical director at Children's Hospital.

[2] The Syracuse Herald-Journal has since merged with The Post-Standard.

[3] Carl Maar was Community Hospital’s first board chairman, 1957-1966.

[4] The current value of the Community Hospital's 1958 fund drive was estimated by the consumer price index (CPI) calculator from the Department of Labor.

More hospital CEOs in the blogosphere

A mention of this blog on Social Hospital alerted me to blogs by the CEOs of other hospitals and systems. Here is the list and the links:

Let's Talk Health Care Bruce Bullen, CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Wellesley, MA;
Hospital Life by Marty Bonick, CEO of Jewish Hospital, Louisville, NY;
McLeod Health by Rob Colones, CEO of McLeod Health, Florence, SC;
SJMC World by Scott Kashman, CEO of St. Joseph Medical Center, Kansas City, MO;
Running a Hospital by Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA;
Todd's Perspective by Todd Linden, CEO of Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Grinnell, IA; and
Roper on health by Bill Roper, CEO of Univ. of North Carolina Health Care System, Chapel Hill, NC.

It's great to see the expanding CEO presence in the blogosphere. A quick check suggests that Paul Levy is still the master in both quantity and quality of his posts, present company included.

I've added these CEO blogs to the "suggested links" list in the right panel.