WOW! What a difference a year makes! A year ago, our WRHS Foundation was pushing so hard for our “One Room At a Time Together Campaign” to renovate our 44 resident rooms at Western Horizons Care Center (which we have completed, thank you, after raising $161,185 when we were shooting for $145,500! Thank you again!), that our 2016 Partners In Health Club funds had been lagging far behind previous years. Therefore, Partners In Health Club had only $17,281 to distribute in 2016. But after our highly successful “Partners In Health Club -- Join the Club” Campaign this past spring, where we acquired 122 members (who have paid $100 or more this past year), we recently were able to distribute $46,704 for 26 different projects throughout the entire West River Health Services organization. Our Partners In Health Club Committee heard 33 separate presentations at our Annual Partners In Health Club Meeting on May 9th.
And we certainly spread out our distributions to various areas, with 26 approved projects – including a new $16,040 Glidescope to help keep our patients airways open in ER; $4,500 for 16 new resident chairs at Assisted Living; two defibrillators for our New England and Bowman satellite clinics; two new exam tables for Bowman Clinic; a new Blood Lead Analyzer for our Laboratory; a new Rock & Go Wheelchair for our Care Center; a new isolet for OB; and numerous other important items for our Information Systems Department, Ambulance Services, Med/Surg Department, Rehabilitation Center, and Lemmon and Mott Clinics.
Special thanks to all of the members of Partners In Health Club, whether you gave $4-$20 every two weeks as an employee, or from $100 to $5,000 as a partner from our area community. Or maybe you’re part of a business or organization that decided to support Partners In Health Club. You can rest assured that your gifts are being utilized efficiently; that they are not sitting in an account at West River doing nothing. In fact, many of these items could make a huge difference in our area citizen’s lives on a daily basis.
If you’d like to join our Partners In Health Club, you can always contact Ted Uecker direct at the WRHS Foundation at 701-567-6187 or 701-567-3666. He will be more than happy to set up a visit with you and explain this amazing program. In a nutshell, Partners In Health Club began in 2002 as a membership club into the Foundation, with various giving levels ($100, $250, $500) over one year’s time. Over the past 16 years, Partners In Health has given over $451,000 toward various needed equipment projects at West River and Western Horizons.
You’re amazing Hettinger area. Thank you for supporting our efforts. As, in the end, our efforts are for you and your family and your friends. Without our health, what do we really have? Let’s continue on this path of supporting top-notch healthcare “close to home.” Onward!
By Ted Uecker, WRHS Foundation