PeaceHealth’s Northwest Network
Your inspiring impact
Your gifts elevate cancer care Thanks to you, PeaceHealth United General Medical Center will soon be home to a new highprecision linear accelerator (LINAC) — the most advanced, targeted radiation therapy available today for cancer patients. The project is well underway, with our trusted local partner, TRICO Companies, busily working to build new concrete vault walls designed to absorb radiation to keep our patients as safe as possible. Our new LINAC technology should be in place this spring to meet the growing need for exceptional cancer care in our community. continued on inside page
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The care team in the Cancer Center is stellar! They are extremely attentive and caring. The nurses work smoothly together as a team. They are also fun to talk to and get to know. An exceptional facility. My infusion days are so comfortable that I call it my spa day.” — Grateful patient at PeaceHealth United General
Your inspiring impact
You ensure accessible care for all Together, with your partnership, we are proud of the care provided in our Childbirth Center at PeaceHealth St. Joseph to support over 1,800 births each year. Our caregivers, who have an average of over 15 years of experience, give exceptional maternal and newborn care each day. Every effort is taken to uphold our healing mission – to treat each person in a loving and caring way. We are always looking for ways to enhance our patients’ experience, especially in the area of women’s and children’s services. A few months ago, we created a welcome tour video of the Childbirth Center, and an immersive walkthrough experience of the labor and delivery space translated into multiple languages. There is a growing need for more language services to assist the mothers in our care. With your help, we continue to focus on developing online and in-person resources for expectant mothers of diverse backgrounds and languages. Thank you for sponsoring these efforts to ensure accessible care and break barriersto healthcare for families in Whatcom County.
continued from front page The LINAC is set to open this spring to meet the growing need for cancer care in our community.
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“We believe a healthier community is a stronger, more vibrant community that uplifts us all. Cancer has touched many of us personally here at TRICO, which makes this campaign even more meaningful to us.” — Christopher Kiel, TRICO Companies President
With your partnership, we are continuing to expand our cancer treatment services and upgrade essential equipment to elevate cancer care close to home.
You make our community stronger and healthier We’re delighted to report that summer 2024 marked an important milestone in PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center’s Stronger Together Campaign — the most ambitious effort in our 131-year history to ensure the future of outstanding healthcare for our families, friends and neighbors. As we move ahead to expand the new Peter Paulsen Pavilion, you’re helping us pave the way! Already, we’ve opened the new parking garage to make sure patients, doctors, nurses and loved ones have a convenient place to park with 600 spots now available. And that’s just one small step on the path toward transforming our medical center into one of the nation’s greatest. Through our Stronger Together Campaign, we’re taking outstanding care to the next level. Thanks to your charitable support, our collective efforts mean improved patient rooms for more efficient service, a new labor and delivery department, ongoing education for our dedicated caregivers, along with increased recruitment and retention of the best and brightest medical staff. Thank you for joining us on the journey to make our community stronger and healthier for years to come.
YOUR INSPIRING IMPACT, OUR ENDURING GRATITUDE
You raise cancer awareness Through your generous support and in partnership with Waterfall Foundation, PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center recently offered a free event to the community to discuss breast health and give free mammograms. This event helped break down barriers of access to mammography screening for vulnerable populations, including those in the Asian and Filipino communities, by addressing taboo topics and misinformation surrounding having a mammogram. PeaceHealth staff partnered with the Ketchikan Wellness Coalition’s Sama Sama Tayo Sa Kalusugan to host the event. At the center of it all, PeaceHealth caregivers and community members joined together to speak out for women’s health. They shared the importance of cancer screenings, their personal experiences with breast cancer, and the difficulties Asian and Filipino women face in discussing and prioritizing their well-being. The women who attended received resources for scheduling their next mammogram, contacts for cultural and language navigation, as well as financial assistance information for health screenings. Thank you for helping to empower everyone in our community on the path to wellness.
Your generosity is life-affirming We’re amazed and inspired by your gifts of true compassion, humanity and loving care. Incredibly, our 2024 Whatcom Hospice gala raised $609,041 to bring greater comfort, peace and dignity to every patient we support on their final journey. There are endless stories of families whose lives are changed from our compassionate care because of you. One family shares, “My family all knew this day would come as Mom had been in kidney failure for many years. However, you are never really prepared. The respect and kindness that was shown to her was so heartwarming. All of our questions were answered with such care. Every nurse and doctor was extremely kind and supportive. They sang “Amazing Grace” to her as she passed and I will never forget that. It was not sad, it was a celebration from this life to the next. Even after Mom passed, her body was beautifully taken care of with respect and dignity.”
Creating lasting change through legacy giving It takes the will of many to uplift the lives of others. Just ask Kathy Corwin. Not only has she made a significant gift of her estate to PeaceHealth, she also donates her time to our Volunteer Services. As Kathy says, “Giving back to the community and helping take care of everyone is important.” Her connection with PeaceHealth began with the compassionate care her late husband, Kyle, received as one of our patients. Upon returning home, Kyle said he would like to do something nice for the nurses who gave him such great care. This inspired Kathy to make a lasting gift in support of the incredible nurses who expertly cared for her husband and continue to care for our community still. Through her legacy gift and volunteering, Kathy hopes to make a life-changing difference now and far into the future. We’re grateful for you Kathy, and for all of our legacy donors, whose commitment to our community means healthier days ahead for many years to come.
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“We are blessed that PeaceHealth United General is close to us and the doctors and nurses who work there are so concerned about what is wrong with you. If I could give them 11 for all they do instead of 10, I would do so.” — Grateful patient at PeaceHealth United General
You fuel expert care for all!
PeaceHealth happenings
You are a part of an award-winning network at PeaceHealth. With the help of generous donors like you, we can meet each patient’s needs throughout their healthcare journey, including physical, emotional, financial and spiritual. Your charitable support is what makes these services possible to add strength and comfort for our patients when they need it most.
On GivingTuesday, PeaceHealth’s Northwest Network celebrated $16,525 in giving. Thank you for partnering with us in this important work! Every dollar will go to improve the health of our loved ones, community and neighbors.
> PeaceHealth United General’s Acute Rehabilitation Center celebrated five years of providing exceptional care and was named one of America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers by Newsweek.
New staff joined PeaceHealth: > Sarah Cook starts as the new CAO of PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center.
> PeaceHealth St. Joseph Institute for Nursing Excellence celebrated its grand opening in November.
> Seasoned congregation and healthcare leader, Sheila Lemieux, CSJP, joins the system board of directors at PeaceHealth.
> PeaceHealth Ketchikan was included in Becker’s Hospital Review’s list of the 350 cleanest hospitals and received a 5-star rating for cleanliness.
> Melissa Edwards, MD, was appointed to chief executive of PeaceHealth Medical Group.
> Whatcom Hospice was awarded “Nonprofit Organization of the Year” by the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce. > PeaceHealth Foundations received the overall high performer and health system high performer national awards for the second consecutive year for outstanding fundraising from the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.
Your support makes this care possible. Thank you.
Amber Asbjornsen, CFRE Chief Philanthropy Officer, PeaceHealth Northwest Network aasbjornsen@peacehealth.org | (360) 788-6853