Auxiliary to Wilson Memorial General Hospital

President’s Report to the Board

Here’s a quick update of what the auxiliary accomplished in 2009! Well, in a nutshell, we approached everything from a different angle. We opted not to send anyone to the buying show in 2009 because of the cost of our summer student in 2008. We received partial funding for our summer student Dean Cummings this year, mainly because of the extra efforts put in by Charlene Schintz. We cancelled sending members to the HAAO Fall Convention in Toronto because of the economic times, the cost and the fact that only two people could go, and instead sent six members to the Spring Convention in Thunder Bay. We had a Valentine Bake Sale and a Fall Fair, Penny Auction and Bake Sale, but cancelled our Spring Tea, Penny Auction and Bake Sale. We received notification that we had to move our rag operation and wool out of the Centre Mall in February, and with the combined efforts of Linda Richards and Charlene Schintz, and the cooperation of Wes Brown and Melissa Billings, everything was moved into the hospital on February 19th. This has worked out really well, as the rag ladies now cut rags in the Lab and X-ray waiting areas on Tuesday nights where it is warm and bright, and a couple of our long term care residents come down to help out and socialize. On May 19th, we inducted Bill Thomson, Nancy Thomson and Rosemary Johnston as our newest life members. We voted to defer our scholarship payment to Asia Henderson from January to September when she decided to change colleges. Brent Richards stepped up and volunteered to take over the pop machine when Laurie Danard had to give it up due to moving out of town. We opted to get rid of our publicity sub-committee as it was happening anyways, and opted to add a “Donation Update” sub-committee so that our auxiliary always had a list of items the hospital would like to see us purchase. Bill Thomson and myself are currently sitting on that. And finally, we voted to join the Marathon and District Chamber of Commerce to help support local businesses and to promote “buying local.”

So, what did we spend? We started off by purchasing an Oximeter for the Chemotherapy Department at a cost of $695.00, we purchased a Pebble Beach Print on Canvas from Doug Gibbons for the Emergency Waiting Area for $561.60, we purchased linens for a total of $1,382.11 (some of this money came from our Penny Auction in 2008), we bought another canvas print from Doug Gibbons for the Emergency Waiting Area for $683.55, we bought 3 Jerry Manual Prints on Canvas for the Lab/X-ray Waiting Area for $600.00 and purchased 10 flat screen T.V.’s & wall mounts for the Acute Care, Maternity and Observation Rooms for a total of $6,464.29. We also presented baby gifts to the New Year’s Baby, Davan Lynn Blake for a total of $201.89, did up Gift Bags for our Cancer Patients for $1,136.89, and purchased Christmas gifts for our Long Term & Acute Care Patients – $50.95 for Cookies, $298.32 for Poinsettias, approx. $150 for slippers and approx. $150 for a gift basket of toiletries that the nurses will give out. We spent $1,435.59 (we received $340.50 from HAAO- our cost was $1.095.09) on sending Pat Witzell, Charlene Schintz, Colette Godin, Marie Charbonneau, Lynda Cooper and myself to the Spring Conference in Thunder Bay. Our cost for the summer student this year was $723.60, and we paid out our $1,000.00 Scholarship to Asia Henderson.

So what else happened? On the downside of 2009, we experienced the closure of Marathon Pulp, and many auxiliary and staff members or their spouses were directly impacted. The economic downturn reached Marathon, and our auxiliary felt the pinch. On the upside, we shut down the shop for the first two weeks of January, and did a full inventory and cleaning of the shop. Mary-Quinn Griggs presented our $1000 Scholarship at the June 2009 Graduation ceremonies to deserving student Matthew Houde, which will be paid out in 2010. We contributed information for our regions “Northern Connections Newsletter,” which was put out in February by the Auxiliary to St. Joseph’s Care Group in Thunder Bay. And our auxiliary received its 45th Anniversary Certificate at the spring conference in Thunder Bay! We started in 1964 – look how far we’ve come! Congratulations everyone!

Our fiscal year ran from January 1, 2009 until December 31st, 2009, but here’s a quick overview of our auxiliary happenings to date in 2010:

® We sent Charlene Schintz and Barb Draper down to the Buying Show in Toronto – their trip was very      successful!

® We hosted a Valentine Bake Sale in the lobby of the hospital

® Elections were held for 2 Year appointments to the Auxiliary Executive. The executive from March 2010 – March 2012 is: President – Becky Johnson, 1st Vice – Colette Godin, 2nd Vice – Mary-Quinn Griggs, Secretary – Pat Witzell, Treasurer – Barb Draper and Gift Shop Treasurer – Charlene Schintz

® We purchased 16 new mattresses for the hospital

® We were notified that our “Rag Ladies” photo would be included in the HAAO Centennial Book. They are featured on page 215, so we had an “unveiling” on May 18th, presented books to the 9 ladies in the photo, and celebrated with cake and refreshments. Our “Rag Ladies” have literally made history!

® Charlene Schintz was successful in procuring funding for seven weeks for a summer student

®The scholarship committee will be presenting a $1000 scholarship to a serving Grade 12 student at grad

I am very grateful to all the staff at Wilson Memorial General Hospital, as you help make our volunteers welcome and accepted in this facility. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Jill Pascoe, Janet Gobeil, the front desk staff, the kitchen staff, the cleaning staff, Wes Brown, Melissa Billings, Adam Brown, Helen Shaw, Diane Atkinson, and Charlene Schintz for always going that extra mile to help our volunteers out! I would also like to thank Paul Paradis and Wilson Memorial General Hospital for the wonderful volunteer supper, entertainment and Volunteer bags that we received at Christmas.

In closing, our auxiliary continued to be a positive force in the face of adversity, and always looked for ways to improve things. We continued to change, and became even more diligent and careful in all of our decision-making. We know we are enhancing patient’s lives while in the hospital. Just look at what we’ve given them this year! And as long as we continue to listen to and support each other, this auxiliary will continue to thrive and make a difference in 2010.   Thanks for all your efforts – they are appreciated!

Yours in Volunteering,

Becky Johnson

President – Auxiliary to W.M.G.H.