More support for Community & Upstate

In a post on Thursday, I wrote:

Last week Community General's board of directors approved a resolution that accepted Upstate’s offer to acquire our hospital and its affiliated companies . . .

You read it here first. Today the Post-Standard reported on the Board's decision, based on my memo to employees, which you can read by clicking here.

The combination of Community with Upstate University Hospital has also been supported by the Auxiliary to Community General Hospital. Click here to see the Auxiliary's endorsement.

Wow, Fall Harvest Gala tops $300,000

The photo shows the lobby of the Hotel Syracuse yesterday evening. That's the logo of Community General Hospital, as ice sculpture, in the center. The occasion was the Community General Foundation's Fall Harvest Gala where three individuals and organizations were recognized for their service to community.

Dr. David Halleran (in photo below, at right) was honored for his service to Community General Hospital and its Medical Staff. Specifically cited were his work as a surgeon, his humanity in caring for patients, and his focus on collaboration as a physician leader.

Also recognized was Onondaga Community College and its President Dr. Debbie Sydow (third from right) for the excellence of OCC's School of Nursing and its important role in our community.

Saluted for corporate citizenship was Excellus BlueCross BlueShield of Central New York, which has long supported health education, health planning, and quality improvement initiatives within the community. Receiving the accolade for Excellus was Dr. Arthur Vercillo, Regional President (fourth from left).

A special gift of $56,000 was presented by the Auxiliary to Community General Hospital by its President. John Stafford (at left).

With the Auxiliary, the Foundation raised $302,000!

I sincerely thank all who made the 2010 Gala such a success:

Diamond Sponsor

IBEW/ NECA

Platium Sponsors

Laboratory Alliance of CNY LLC

Pepsi

Gold Sponsors

Advanced OB-GYN

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

Excellus

Upstate Medical University

Welch Allyn

Silver Sponsors

Colon Rectal Associates

ConMed Corporation

Crouse Radio9logy Associates

Dr. David Halleran

Onondaga Hill Pathology

Practice Resources LLC & FamilyCare Medical Group PC

Realty USA

Rural Metro medical Services

Dr. & Mrs. Edward Schoenheit

SOS Syracuse Orthopedic Specialoists

Visual technologies

Also much appreciated were the many Bronze, Copper, and Patron Sponsors, along with individual donors. Your generosity is greatly appreciated! Thanks also to Foundation Chair Scott Matukas, Byrne Dairy (second from left), and Gala Committee co-chairs Rebecca Norr-Hartman, Welch Allyn (third from left) and Mark Re, RealtyUSA (second from right).

Remembering Bev Lippert

Kristin Schofield, Community's Director of Volunteer Services, sent the following remembrance of Bev Lippert, who died unexpectedly yesterday:

Our volunteers and staff are deeply saddened by the loss of our volunteer Beverly Lippert. Bev was killed in a car accident yesterday morning, June 21.

Beverly was a long time employee and retiree of CGH. She loved to tell stories of how she was the employee who ordered all of the first supplies for the Nursery when we first opened. She made all the decisions what to purchase and where to put it. If you walk to the cafeteria and see the photo from the 60’s of a nurse tending to a newborn baby you will see Bev at her finest, doing what she loved, clad in her nursing whites and her cap. She was a very dedicated nurse who cared for several current staff members when they had babies (as well as some staff members who were the babies themselves).

After retirement, Bev continued at CGH as a volunteer, Auxilian and was a current Auxiliary board member. Many of you may recognize Bev as Mimi’s handler. Mimi was her toy poodle that, for years, she brought to the nursing floors to visit patients. Bev also gave many hours as a volunteer at the Diagnostic Desk on Thursday mornings. As of June 17, the last day she volunteered with us, she had given over 4,800 hours to volunteer service.

Calling hours will be tomorrow at Buranich Funeral Home in Camillus from 4 – 7pm and the funeral will be held Thursday at 10 am in the Fairmount Community Church.
Bev did not have any immediate family members but made a lot of friends CGH in the 47 years she was associated with us and considered us her family. She will be missed and remembered fondly. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Thank you, Kristin, for remembering Bev and her part in the CGH family. Bev was a true caring professional.


You can read the obituary in today's Post-Standard.

A best friend and lifelong neighbor

Jean Yeiser was a founder and friend of Community General Hospital. She knew all about the hospital, just as a best friend and lifelong neighbor would.

Jean was a charter member of the Auxiliary (from 1962), and she was a lifetime Auxiliary member. She was Auxiliary President (1979-1983), and she served on the hospital board during that period. Jean started the holiday lights program more than two decades ago. She was chairperson of many Auxiliary committees over the years, serving notably as the chair of volunteer services for many, many years.

Jean was herself an active volunteer, and you could find her on Monday mornings on the main desk . . . until she passed away, February 20. She was 90.

In all her years in up here (that is, "he-ah"), Jean never lost her North Carolina accent -- nor the direct and friendly way she engaged and assisted others. What a dear and impressive woman. What a friend and colleague.

We are proud and thankful that Jean was such a part of the Community general family. Our sincere condolences to the Yeiser family and to her many friends.

We miss her.

Lights honoring lives

Many of the trees on the campus of Community General Hospital date from the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Those trees appear in stylized version on the disc that is part of the hospital's logo.

This week the Auxiliary to Community General Hospital illuminates two of those trees as it holds its 26th annual holiday celebration on December 2.

Tree lights may be sponsored in honor or in memory of someone.

Sponsorships are at the sliver ($25), gold ($50), and life light ($150) levels.

Register online for "Wine & Wildlife"

There still time to sign up for the "Wine and Wildlife" party this Friday at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park.

You can register online for this fund raiser by the Auxiliary to Community General Hospital. Tickets are $35 apiece in advance ($40 at the door).

Upcoming events

Jeans and Jewels Gala

The fall gala will be Friday, October 23, 2009 at the at Hotel Syracuse.

For more information, including ticket and sponsorship information, visit Community's website.

Auxiliary Wine and Wildlife

This new wine tasting event will be Friday, November 20, 2009 at Rosamond Gifford Zoo.

For more information, including ticket and sponsorship information, visit Community's website.

Remembering Mrs. Brown

Ula Brown Maclachlan, who passed away Thursday, was the widow of John L. Brown, the founding President & CEO of Community General Hospital. Mr. Brown was hired in 1958 to design and build the new Community Hospital on Onondaga Hill in Syracuse, NY. He retired in 1982 and died in 1986.

Perhaps 15 years ago, Jerry L. Harris, Mr. Brown’s successor as CEO, gave me a file of personal papers that belonged to Mr. Brown – correspondence, personal notes, the agenda of his interviews for the CEO position, etc. Jerry found the papers in his files, and he asked me to review the documents, saving anything of importance to Community General. I made copies of several documents I thought were relevant for the hospital, but most of the papers were personal in nature. I packed them up and sent them to Mrs. Brown.

A while later, Mrs. Brown sent me the kindest note. To today’s sensibilities her note would seem somewhat dated, quaint, perhaps even politically incorrect. But I was touched by her thoughts.

Paraphrasing (from memory), this is what she said. Mrs. Brown thanked me for sending the documents, saying that she read them with interest and that many fond memories were recalled. She said the documents were especially interesting to their children, Bill and Christine. Mrs. Brown commented to the effect that “when a man is at his most productive, his children are too young, too unaware, or too uninterested to understand the significance of his accomplishments.” She said that Mr. Brown's personal papers provided an opportunity for their children to better understand what Mr. Brown had accomplished and what he meant to the community.

Today, I recall Mrs. Brown, her work at Community General as a founding member of the Auxiliary and as a Volunteer, her life in the community, and the love and support she gave to family and friends.

Our Auxiliary gem

We see all around us the good they do, but we may not always recognize how varied are the works of the Auxiliary at our hospital and within our community. [1]

Last week the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) shined a spotlight on the Auxiliary with its Advocacy Recognition Award.

HANYS recognized the Auxilians for all their work – the preventive health screening they conduct within the community, their health care scholarships, the car seat identification program, their support of hospital volunteers, the library cart for patients, as well as the financial assistance the Auxiliary provides to purchase equipment for patients. Last year, for example, the new waiting room furniture in the Emergency Department was purchased with funds donated by the Auxiliary.

A few years ago one of our doctors was at Van Duyn Home and Hospital, our campus neighbor. A nurse told him how grateful she was, these many years later, for the scholarship help the Auxiliary gave her to become a nurse.

One of the more visible parts of the Auxiliary is the main lobby gift shop which provides snacks, sundries, and gifts for patients.

Other examples of the Auxiliary at work? Auxilians maintain the flower beds that make the front of Community General Hospital so pleasant each spring and summer. They sponsor the Holiday Lights on the Hill program each year, helping families and friends honor and memorialize their loved ones during the holiday season. The Auxiliary holds an annual golf tournament, and it provides sales events throughout the year to help employees, volunteers, physicians, and visitors shop for books, toys, clothing, linens, flowers, and jewelry.

Auxilians are especially proud because their organization predates our hospital on Onondaga Hill. The first Auxilians went door-to-door in 1962, inviting friends and neighbors to join them. The then newly-formed Auxiliary led tours at Community for donors and community groups in the months leading up to our opening, January 1, 1963.

This is the second time HANYS has recognized the Auxiliary for its work on behalf of patients at Community General and within the greater Syracuse community. And just last year, the Community Genmeral Foundation saluted the Auxiliary for its 45-year service record at our hospital.

Please acknowledge Dottie DeSimone, Auxiliary President, along with the Auxiliary Board and all Auxilians for the time and energy and funds they contribute to make Community a better place for patients. Please thank Krtistin Dombroske, Director of Volunteers, and her staff for their work in support of the Auxilians. And thank you, HANYS, for shining your light on our Auxiliary gem.

[1] This posting includes some material about the Auxiliary from a previous posting.

Holiday lights

Thank you, Auxiliary to Community General Hospital, for the beautiful lights that decorate the trees in the park across from the entrances to Community General Hospital. And thank you for the splendid Holiday Lights on the Hill tree-lighting ceremony on December 5.

Worthy honorees

In about two weeks the Community General Foundation will honor a number of people for service to Central New York: Dr. Drew Merritt, the Auxiliary to Community General Hospital, and Local #43 of the IBEW.

The honors will be given at the Foundation’s annual gala, October 26, at the OnCenter in Syracuse. The gala’s theme is “Diamonds and Denim,” which seems to have left many people wondering just exactly what to wear. Blue jeans are OK, and I’ve heard people will wear “washed black denim” too. Western gear is fine – as, of course, are diamonds or otherwise sparkly things. The bottom line: attendance at the gala does not require formal attire.

In fact, informality is a hallmark of the annual gala. And that means the evening’s presentations are mercifully short too. The emphasis is on raising money for a good cause by dining, dancing, and enjoying the company of friends. Tickets are still available. Just call 492- 5079.

For service to profession, Dr. Merritt
Dr. Merritt, pictured below, will be honored for his service to the medical profession. He is a past president of the Community General Hospital Medical Staff who recently served as interim Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer.

Dr. Merritt is Vice-Chair of the Department of Family Practice, a member and past president of the New York State Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), a member and past president of the Onondaga County Medical Society, and a member of the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY), where he serves as chair of MSSNY Committee on Health Care, is an alternate delegate to national AAFP, and serves on the AAFP Commission on Practice Enhancement.

Beyond his roles in medicine, Dr. Merritt has served the community as a member of several organizations affiliated with the Town of Marcellus and as a coach for youth sports. He and his wife, Carol (who is also being honored), have three daughters - all of whom were born at Community General Hospital.

For service to hospital, the Auxiliary
The Auxiliary will be honored for 45 years of service to CGH. An important part of the hospital, the Auxiliary helps raise funds and provides community services. Since inception, the Auxiliary has donated over $2 million to the hospital, designating funds to such items as renovations to the Surgery Center, the Jim and DeDe Walsh Family Birth Center, and medical equipment in various patient care services.

The Auxiliary provides blood pressure screenings throughout the community and advocates for health care issues in Albany.

The group photo shows members of the Auxiliary’s Executive Committee, from left: Ted Topalian; Mary Lascaris; Carol Merritt, outgoing President; Kay Cudworth; Dottie DeSimone, incoming President; and Claire Wightman. Not shown are committee members Bernie Schmidt and Donald White. CGH is a very family-oriented place, and isn’t it fitting that both Drew and Carol Merritt will be honored on the same evening?

For service to community, IBEW Local #43
Being honored for service to community is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW Local #43. Chartered in 1896, the union represents some 1,200 members, including quality electricians in Central New York. In the photo are Don Morgan, Local #43’s President, and Bill Towsley, its Business Manger.
The local chapter contributes to the Community General Foundation’s capital campaign that provides funds for capital projects such as the physical medicine & rehabilitation unit, the Jim & DeDe Family Birth Center, and the cardiac catheterization lab. Local #43 also supports the Foundation’s annual pro-am golf tournament as “presenting sponsor” for the past five years. Beyond its support of CGH, Local #43 assists numerous charitable causes throughout Central New York, with members regularly taking part in local fund raisers and volunteer work.

These are good people who have accomplished much for good causes. Please join me in saluting these worthy honorees.

The quiet hand

We see the good they do all around us, but we may not recognize it as the quiet work of the Auxiliary to Community General Hospital. At the 42nd annual meeting of the Auxiliary last Thursday (October 27), Dr. David Simon, Medical Staff President, gave an example of their quiet deeds.

Dr. Simon had seen patients that morning at Van Duyn Home and Hospital, our campus neighbor across the tree line. In conversation with a head nurse at Van Duyn, he mentioned that he would be speaking with the Auxiliary later in the day. The head nurse told him gratefully that, years ago, the Auxiliary helped her become a nurse through its scholarship program. Each and every year Community's Auxilians volunteer interview candidates and make scholarship awards. Over the years they have helped many join the nursing profession.

How many of us use the Gift Shop for snacks, sundries, and gifts for patients? The Gift Shop is an Auxiliary project that requires many volunteer hours for ordering, inventorying, transporting, and staffing. At the annual meeting Carol Merritt, Auxiliary President, paid special tribute to Bob Easton, who has quietly run the gift shop for decades. She also acknowledged Walt and Vera Sassman, two Auxilians who have volunteered at Community – Vera for over 40 years, Walt for more than 35. Monday was their last day as volunteers. “But we are still members of the Auxiliary,” they hastened to tell me.

In his remarks to the Auxiliary, John Scala, Director of Volunteers, cited more examples of the Auxiliary’s quiet hand in the life of Community. He spoke of Auxilians’ work in maintaining the flower beds that make the front of Community General Hospital so pleasant; he spoke of the Light-a-Light program that decorates the campus and helps families and friends honor their loved ones during the holiday season; he spoke of the Auxiliary’s annual golf tournament, its fashion show (coming December 3), and the sales events throughout the year that help employees, volunteers, physicians, and visitors shop for books, toys, clothing, linens, flowers, and jewelry.

Auxiliary fund raisers contribute to the life of our hospital, and they generate funds the Auxiliary donates for hospital care. Last Thursday Carol Merritt presented the Community General Foundation with a very generous $45,000 check for Community's new Birth Center.

Here is something quite remarkable – the Auxiliary’s gifts to the Community General Foundation’s “Pay it Forward” capital campaign more than equal the gifts from hospital directors and employees. The Auxiliary has contributed $150,000 to “Pay it Forward,” and to date Community's board members, managers, and employees have pledged and contributed some $143,000. That shows just how busy – and just how generous – are the Auxilians.

If you're doing the math, you’ve noticed that the Auxiliary actually predates our hospital. The Auxiliary’s annual meeting was its 42nd. Community General Hospitalwill celebrate its 42nd anniversary on January 1st. Dr. Simon noted that the Auxiliary became active before Community opened when the first Auxilians went door-to-door, inviting others to join them. The newly-formed Auxiliary led tours of the hospital for community groups in the months leading up to Community's opening on January 1, 1963.

The Auxilians are a big part of our hospital’s past and, as is evident, a big part of our present. In my remarks to them, I thanked the Auxilians for their constancy, and I assured them that we who work for Community are grateful for all they do. I promised that, for our part, we will continue to value, care for, and respect each patient, every day.

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This text was originally sent to the employees of Community General Hospital, Syracuse, NY, as one of a series of letters from the CEO. The text was subsequently posted on the CEO's blog, More than Medicine, started in June 2007.