With the help of major donors and hundreds of community members, Jamestown Regional Medical Center set a new Giving Hearts Day record.
To clarify, Giving Hearts Day is a 24-hour, online giving event. For every $10 donated, JRMC received a match, up to $40,000.
JRMC raised $213,153 in 2019, thanks to the generosity of 293 donors. Last year, 200 donors helped JRMC raise $75,000, said Lisa Jackson, JRMC Foundation Director. The funds helped purchase R.O.S.I.E.; a germ-zapping robot used to sanitize rooms and reduce surgical site infections.
One of this year’s gifts – $100,000 came from Reuben and Clarice M. Liechty. The gift will help the JRMC Cancer Center provide chemotherapy infusions to area patients. This will help save them hundreds of miles of travel each year. Those miles certainly matter, Jackson said; no one wants to travel when they are sick.
“It’s so important to not have to travel a long distance,” Clarice said. “It’s tough enough to be sick.”
The JRMC Cancer Center is set to open this summer.
“This is a huge win for JRMC and the Jamestown community,” Jackson said. “Thank you to the Liechtys for their giving hearts. What you’ve done for JRMC and the Jamestown community will make THE difference in patient care.”
In addition to the gift from the Liechtys, the JRMC Auxiliary donated $10,000. This money helped purchase a Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma Ultrasound for the JRMC Emergency Department. This tool will help doctors diagnose and treat injuries, said JRMC Emergency Department Physician Dr. Kent Diehl. The $45,000 machine means patients can count on JRMC for faster results, especially when seconds count and miles matter.
“We will be able to diagnose things quicker. It will be huge – the difference between life and death in certain situations,” Dr. Diehl said. “The equipment does so many things including guiding IV access and not having to transport patients for x-rays. This equipment puts us equally with higher level trauma centers. Thank you to this community for the support.”
The 50 or so members of the JRMC Auxiliary volunteer their time to raise money for JRMC. Since 1987 the Auxiliary has donated more than $390,000 for patient care.
“Great patient care is important to all of us in the Auxiliary. We’re happy to support these projects,” said Cindy Grimm, JRMC Auxiliary past-president.
Giving Hearts Day, more than 30,000 individuals gave $16.2 million to nonprofit organizations throughout the Upper Midwest.
“Every year on Giving Hearts Day, we talk about how gifts ‘double the love.’ When it comes to the JRMC Cancer Center and the JRMC Emergency Department, this is absolutely true. Giving Hearts Day gifts directly affect our current patients. However, the love is doubled because those gifts help future patients too. Thank you to this community for the support. We are humbled,” Jackson said.
To learn more about patient care or giving opportunities at JRMC, call (701) 952-1050.