(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - The Gift Shop in the Ketchikan Medical Center Lobby “is a wonderful example of the PeaceHealth mission in action,” said Matt Eisenhower, Director of the Ketchikan Medical Center Foundation.

The Foundation oversees the operation but it’s the volunteers who staff the little shop that are the heart and soul of the enterprise. Carolyn Wilsie has been there since the start, when the gift shop was not much more like a closet.

“In the years since,” Wilsie said at the annual Gift Shop luncheon Saturday, "we've given over $600,000 in grants from Gift Shop proceeds to PeaceHealth here in Ketchikan and on Prince of Wales."

“We were so pleased when we first had enough money to donate. After several years of operation, we were able to buy two new wheelchairs in 2000,” said Wilsie.

In the years since they’ve funded an array of requests from a few hundred dollars for new toys for the Child Development Center to tens of thousands for major equipment purchase.

This year, they received eleven requests and funded them all. Here is the list:

• Spiritual Care – Several items for the Prayer Room and outreach services $218
  
  
• Child Care – Floor Mount Utility Sink $893
  
  
• Education. Two ZOLL training heart monitors with defibrillators $17,290
  
  
• Med/Surg. iPad for patient education $500
  
  
• Respiratory Therapy. Educational materials for COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) $400
  
  
• Respiratory Therapy. MetaNeb System $4500 Used by post-operative patients, COPD, bronchiectasis, and others to help prevent post-operative complications and help with secretion clearance
  
  
• Food Services.  Cold food vending machine in lobby $4645
  
  
• Rehabilitation.  Tests and books for speech services $706
  
  
• Rehabilitation. Wheelchair accessories $733
  
  
• Rehabilitation. Compression donning aid $800
  
  
• Rehabilitation.  Expiratory Muscle Strength Trainer EMST) $500 (for 10 devices). For adults with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) like Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis.

Almost a dozen Gift Shop volunteers came to the Appreciation Luncheon. They were joined by department managers and other caregivers who made presentations.

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center is a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital, and a Level IV Trauma Center for an area roughly twice the size of Massachusetts. Key services include general and orthopedic surgery, and primary, women’s health, pediatric, and behavioral health clinics. The Medical Center also has a 29-bed Transitional Care Unit.

Editing by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News:

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center
www.peacehealth.org/ketchikan

 

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Ketchikan, Alaska

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