Question: When did you start, and can you describe your role?
Answer: February 12, 2013. I'm the president and CEO, so I oversee all of the operations, the fundraising, the community and corporate engagement, brand development, brand awareness and the internal liaising between the medical staff and the foundation.
Q: Can you give a brief description of your background?
A: My entire career . 30-plus years, has been in the not-for-profit sector, and building awareness, brand awareness specifically, for organizations and fundraising. So, really making a link between the vision and mission of the organization and the outcome, which is raising dollars for needed - in this case - medical technology and equipment.
Q: Do you know how much was raised from the diamond gala fundraiser last month?
A: We're still compiling. There are a lot of tribute gifts that are coming in on behalf of Dr. Hill, so hopefully we'll have a final figure by the end of this month.
Q: What are the most urgent needs of the hospital right now?
A: Well, you know, in the health-care system everything is urgent, but the things that I have mentioned - the things that take a lot of dollars in donations, obviously are surgery, ER equipment, maternity equipment, the gastro-scopes, endoscopes. . it's really the major equipment. It's funny, we'll get requests for something very small that's just urgently needed. So, sometimes it's not always the large, sexy type equipment that people naturally think of.
Sometimes we just need suture packs or warming beds or mattresses.
It really runs the gamut. Each year we try and sit down with our medical staff and develop a capital equipment list and they meet with their managers to get a sense of what each department needs. And then we leave it to our medical staff to prioritize what the needs are for the coming year.
Q: Can you tell me about the campaign efforts the foundation is planning for this year?
A: We have a campaign at Brentwood (mall) where we're talking about the foun-
dation and how we're raising equipment. We have direct mail that we send out a couple of times a year. And direct mail is not only just to raise money; it really is a piece to let people know what we're doing.
People like to see the faces of our patients; patients want to share their stories. . We have a major gift program, we have legacy plan giving program. So there are a multitude of levels where people can become engaged with us, and in whatever way they feel they'd like to contribute is equally as important. Ten dollars is equally as important as $10,000 because every little bit helps.
Q: What is the foundation's role in the creation of a new hospital? A: Foundations are always there to lend a helping hand. That's how we see our role; in whatever way we can complement and supplement new medical technology being purchased and used, we're there. Foundations are sometimes like the cheerleaders of a hospital.
We take the message out of the great staff that we have working here, the new
technology that we're able to purchase, and we really want to sing the praises of those folks that come here day in and day out and what they do, which oftentimes can be really challenging.
So, we see our role as being one of being very supportive, being very collaborative and really working in concert with the hospital in whatever strategic direction we think would be best for the community.
Ultimately, it's to get the best possible health-care available to the community.
Q: Where would you personally like to see the new hospital be established?
A: Again, I think one of the things that's really important in terms of a hospital and any hospital is accessibility in terms of the community. And in terms of its vision to provide the best possible health-care, then really the location becomes less of an issue and being accessible to all would be really a priority.
Q: Did last year's controversy with the planning committee have any effect on this year's fundraising efforts?
A: Not that I know of. I know that it really is difficult, particularly in healthcare, because it's fluid. The system is fluid, the funding is sometimes fluid, and when you get any kind of health concerns that crop up there are always multiple factors. So, it's really important in times of a controversy to not look only at a snapshot of a period in time, because you want to look at the situation as a whole. . I think that really has resonated with our donors. We're still able to make a significant contribution to the hospital each and every year. I know it's pretty significant so I'm not sure that it really affected it all that much. . There are always good things to learn from the past, but here at the foundation I really like to focus on the future and focus on moving forward.
Q: What's your biggest goal for your first year with the foundation? A: It's being true to the vision and true to the message, which is, we're a partner, we're supportive, we're here to compliment the efforts of the great folks that live and work around and in the hospital, and we really want to be viewed as a community partner, and stay true to the vision of providing funds to purchase equipment so that the hospital can be the very best that it can be.
Q: What's the most important message you'd like the community to have from the foundation?
A: I think it's really important that the community knows that patients are first, and always have been. That's not new.
