Well done!

I’d like to acknowledge with gratitude the work of the Community General Hospital Employee Community Service Fund, which has assisted members of the Community family since 1993.

With Community’s transition to Upstate University Hospital, the CGH Employee Fund completes its exemplary, quiet service.

I say “quiet,” but the Fund could actually be quite noisy once each year during the campaign to aid the United Way of Central New York and the Community General Foundation -- and to resupply its own coffers for the benefit the Community General family members.

Once the annual United Way campaign was finished, the Fund board labored in relative obscurity, inconspicuously providing temporary financial assistance to employees and other “family members” for a “sudden, unplanned economic hardship due to accident, loss or disaster” (in the words of the Fund).

With the transition of Community's employees to Upstate (and to Upstate’s contract services), payroll deductions come to an end, and the Employee Fund completes its work and its lifespan.

Although employee pledges end as of mid-year, Fund directors voted recently to complete payment to the United Way of Fund's full pledge for 2011. Any amount remaining in the Fund goes to the Community General Foundation, which will continue as a fund raising corporation after the Upstate acquisition is completed.

During its existence, the Fund provided some $150,000 to assist CGH family members through hard times.

In addition, United Way contributions from the Employee Fund have been more than $400,000 over that period.

To all who supported the Fund and to the directors who made it work, congratulations and thank you.

Job well done!

An eye opener

“What an eye opener,” said an employee this week after attending the annual meeting of the Employee Community Service Fund. His e-mail said, “I think CGH employees really don’t know what’s going on with the employee fund.”

What’s going on is the good, quiet work of CGH people.

For more than a decade, the Employee Fund has helped members of the CGH family who experience unexpected financial hardship. The help can go to any member of the hospital family, employees, retirees, or active volunteers. The hardships involve emergencies, tragedies, and difficult situations – a house fire, the death of a loved one, or financial problems following a divorce or illness.

Such situations are varied, and each is handled privately, one-on-one, by a member of the 14-person panel that governs the Employee Fund.

When I mentioned the employee’s e-mail to panel-member Maureen Blackmer, she said that it’s not easy to talk about the work of the Fund because each situation requires confidentiality. “Some situations are heartbreaking,” she said. “Until you hear about them, you don’t appreciate the need. It’s so important for the Fund to help.”

Last year the Employee Fund helped two-thirds of all who applied for assistance. In all, 22 applicants received emergency assistance totaling $18,466.

In addition the Fund helped the United Way of Central New York, which received $28,450, thanks to the generosity of employees and others.

The donations helped 31 specific United Way agencies, including AIDS Community Resources, the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, Canine Helpers for the Handicapped, Dunbar Center, Hope for the Bereaved, Hospice, Syracuse Jewish Family Service, Catholic Charities, the Rescue Mission, and Vera House.

What was the source of such generosity? There were 500 donors to last fall's Employee Fund campaign, and the average gift was $91.51. To each of the employees, retirees, and volunteers who made a donation, thank you.

Thank you to Nancy Thompson for her work as Chairperson of the Employee Fund. And thanks also to all members of the Fund: Maureen Blackmer, Kristin Dombroske, Tracy Fenner (secretary), Donna King, Melissa Martin, Debby Michaels, Gillian Ottman, Ken Redmore, Phil Sherwood (treasurer), George Slavinski, Nancy Towne (vice chairperson), Jean Waldron, and John Zacharek.

For the United Way & CGH Employee Fund - Thank you!

My thanks to all who contributed to the CGH Employee Fund/ United Way Campaign. The campaign exceeded the 2007 goal by 8%!

Some $45,755 was raised in cash and pledges from employees, with help from retirees and volunteers.

Congratulations to Nancy Thompson, who chaired this year’s campaign with the help of her able committee, the leadership of the 14-person CGH Employee Community Service Fund. That's Nancy in the photo, more or less in the center of the photo. Others representing the Fund are, from left, Kristin Dombroske, Dan Cameron, Ken Redmore, Nancy, Maria Damiano, and me.

Each year the Employee Fund helps the United Way of CNY and raises funds that help members of the CGH family who may face unexpected personal financial hardship during the year.

Great work, all.

The good, quiet work of CGH people

Fourteen employees hold confidential meetings from time to time throughout the year. They are acting for all of us in helping employees, retirees, and volunteers who are facing a crisis of one kind or another.

The fourteen employees[1] are members of the “CGH Employee Community Service Fund” – the same group that conducts our United Way campaign each fall. While raising funds for the United Way, the Fund also receives gifts to help co-workers in family emergencies.

Fund members usually meet in private to discuss the circumstances of those who may need assistance. Anyone, however, may attend the Fund’s annual meeting, which was held on February 12. The annual meeting is used to report on activities and answer questions about the Fund.

In 2003 the Fund distributed $26,331 to the United Way, helping charities across Central New York. It also distributed $12,725 in financial assistance within the CGH family.

Who benefits from such assistance? They may be co-workers, retirees, or volunteers who face an immediate family hardship caused by a problem with a spouse, a work interruption, the loss of child support payments, illness, fire, or death. Such events sometimes create dire situations for families.

Some employees apply to the Fund directly (applications are available in the Human Resources Department). Sometimes co-workers may ask the Fund to consider assistance in difficult situations they know of. The Fund assigns one of the fourteen members to meet with the individual and thoroughly review the situation. This is often difficult because it may involve embarrassment or emotional distress. So the Fund limits contact to a single member who keeps confidential the applicant’s name.

The Fund considers each situation on its merits. Often it asks for more information, including copies of bills or other documentation. Sometimes an individual may be asked to use the Employee Assistance Program that is available without charge to all employees. The Fund may also want assurance that an applicant has started to manage a bad credit experience and is actively working to improve the situation.

After reviewing the circumstances, the Fund may provide financial assistance to help a family bridge a difficult period. The fund has paid for utilities when cut-off was threatened, for family food and medical expenses, for rent, or for partial funeral costs. There are things the Fund will not pay for, such as cable television or car payments.

The Employee Community Service Fund does not make loans, and some applicants have been uncomfortable accepting such assistance without a repayment agreement. In these cases the Fund has encouraged individuals to repay the amount, when they are able to do so, by making donations to the Fund.

The Fund has assisted members of the CGH family with over $60,000 in financial assistance during its 11-year history. This is the good, quiet work of CGH people that benefits CGH people.

Many thanks are deserved by the fourteen employees who serve on the Fund, conducting interviews, holding the meetings, and keeping its records and accounts. But the ultimate appreciation belongs to all members of the CGH family[2] who support the work of the Fund with their annual donations and pledges.

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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.

[1] Maureen Blackmeer, John Connor, John Carnowski, Cindy Cress (Past Chair), Tracy Fenner, Kathy Kendrick, Donna King, Toni Maxwell, Sharon McCue, Jim O’Brien, Leah Neider, Phil Sherwood, George Slavinski (Chair), and Jean Waldron. Ken Redmore has recently joined the panel, succeeding Leah Neider.

[2] Last fall 587 members of the CGH family (535 employees, 32 retirees, and 20 volunteers) gave $37,196 to the Employee Community Service Fund to support United Way charities and to benefit our fellow employees in times of need.