At Atrium Medical Center — and before that Middletown Regional Hospital — the auxiliary in the past 100 years has provided countless hours of service; raised over $1 million to purchase major medical equipment, furniture, landscaping and other necessities; and awarded more than $670,000 in scholarships, said Mike Stautberg, president of the Atrium Medical Center Foundation.
“You can’t look around the hospital and not see a place they have touched,” Stautberg said. “Their support is significant to us. We are very grateful, very blessed to have them.”
Since 1914, thousands of auxiliary volunteers have worked at the Middletown hospital. There are about 200 there today.
One of them is Marcy Andrews, who started volunteering at the hospital 40 years ago when she was a teacher at Rosedale Elementary School. Andrews said since she worked during the day, she wanted to “work for free” at night. That meant either the gift shop, where proceeds benefit the auxiliary, or the emergency room.
She chose to volunteer in the Hilltop Gift Shop until she retired in 1987 after 30 years teaching. Then she transferred to patient services where she remains today.
“It’s great to help others,” said Andrews, 86.
Raising over $1.6 million each year, there are five auxiliaries supporting operations at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and its satellite campuses including Liberty Twp., said Keith Henize, director of auxiliary relations.
The pediatric hospital’s largest auxiliary, called Kindervelt, has over 900 women who raise $500,000 every year, Henize said. Another smaller auxiliary with about 15 members, called the Funny Companie Clowns, is able to donate about $13,000 a year through clowning events at parades, schools and birthday parties.
“It all adds up and it all makes a difference,” Henize said.
The auxiliaries provide supplemental support to various divisions of the hospital that must stay within a certain budget each year, Henize said.
“It’s seed money to get something started,” Henize said. “It allows programs to get off the ground faster.”
Recent donations to Cincinnati Children’s include $300,000 to audiology for additional hearing aids for children; nearly $1 million to the heart institute to start a comprehensive clinic for congenital heart disease patients; $10,000 to install a fence around a patient-run garden at the College Hill campus to keep out animals; and $50,000 to the hospital’s charitable care fund for families in need, according to Henize.
“What they do is so important for our families,” Henize said.
The auxiliary at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford has raised over $1.1 million since its inception, according to the hospital’s annual reports.
While the Auxiliary of Fort Hamilton has donated over $2 million in its 56 years, said Mollie Young, manager of volunteer services at Fort Hamilton. The auxiliary at Fort Hamilton has about 66 members that raise around $40,000 per year, primarily through gift shop operations.
“All profit comes back into the hospital,” Young said.
Betty Armstrong, a 12-year auxiliary member at Fort Hamilton, said she and her husband were both born at Fort Hamilton Hospital and she feels a close affinity to the hospital.
“There’s a feeling, a very strong feeling, of giving back to the hospital,” Armstrong said, who works in the gift shop every Monday.
Recent donations by the auxiliary have supported renovations to the emergency department, white boards for patient rooms to improve communication, and the purchase of wheelchairs.
“We provide support for a lot of significant improvements that keep us competitive,” Young said.
A 140-member auxiliary at Mercy Health — Fairfield Hospital raises about $300,000 per year through operating the gift shop and hosting an annual golf outing, said Nanette Bentley, spokeswoman for Mercy Health.
That money raised has supported renovations to the emergency department, expansion of the intensive care unit and high-end medical equipment for the electrophysiology lab for cardiac patients, according to Bentley.
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