Celebrating Giving - Allina Health

PROFILE IN GIVING
EMERGENCY
DEPARTMENTS AT UNITY
HOSPITAL AND MERCY
HOSPITAL
EMERGENCY CARE
SupportingMercy
room and vending area. Additional work to be
finished by June 2008 will include renovation
of the two trauma rooms, paramedic work and
Hospital and the
Greater Community
Thanks to the generosity of
our donors, the expansion
and renovation of the
Emergency Departments
break areas, a four bed mental health suite,
isolation rooms and the lobby. Even throughout
all of the construction,Unity Hospital Emergency
Department had nearly 42,000
patient visits, representing a 6%
increase in volume over 2006.
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One special group of donors to the Foundation
was supporting Mercy Hospital before it even
opened: Mercy Hospital was dedicated in
February 1965; however, the first Auxilians
began organizing in support of the Hospital
in early 1964.
Mercy Hospital Auxiliary was chartered on July
14, 1964, eight months before the hospital
opened its doors. Its objectives, which continue
today, are to render a cheery and helpful service
in the hospital, to create good will in the hospital
and the community and to raise funds for
special hospital needs. Since those early days,
the Auxiliary has operated the Mercy Hospital
Gift Shop and the Coffee Shop to support their
philanthropic endeavors.
The Mercy Hospital Auxiliary has donated more
than $600,000 to the Foundation in support of
Hospital programs and services since it began
in 1964. Examples of their significant program
support include “The Heart of the Community”
Cardiovascular Capital Campaign, the patient
emergency fund, the Hospital’s pediatric
Mercy Hospital Auxiliary Board of Directors
While philanthropy
has been at
the heart of the
Auxiliary since its
inception, the Auxiliary has engaged in other
aspects of volunteerism too. Even in its first
year of existence, it donated $3,376, contributed
13,314 volunteer hours and voted to sponsor
nursing students with a scholarship program.
The Auxiliary gave $12,000 in scholarships their
first year and has continued to give generously to
deserving students in the community ever since.
As Julie Hogie, Director of Auxiliary and Volunteer
Services at Mercy Hospital, has said, “Supporting
the Mercy & Unity Hospitals Foundation gives the
at Unity Hospital and at
In 2007 the Mercy Hospital
Mercy Hospital are nearly
Emergency Department provided
completed. For many
care for over 54,000 patient
individuals, the entry point
visits. The patients that come
into a health care experience
into the emergency room may
begins in the emergency
have a simple (but irritating) ear
room. Emergency care is
ache or a complex set of medical,
often a life changing event
mental and social needs. Mercy
for a patient, their loved
has the capacity to care for those
ones and often those who
widely varying needs. Before the
provide their care. In 2006,
Mercy Emergency Room remodeling began, the Mercy
each Hospital embarked upon a
Emergency Department formed
substantial multi-year renovation and expansion
planning teams to work on patient flow through
of their respective Emergency Departments.
the Emergency Department. These planning
teams identified processes and equipment, as
Phase I of Unity’s
well as environmental needs, that if addressed,
Emergency
would improve the patient experience and the
Department
clinical care provided. As a result, the waiting
expansion and
room was updated, an ultrasound machine
renovation is now
was acquired, patient examination rooms were
complete. October
added, trauma rooms were re-equipped with
16, 2007 marked
video technology, the patient admission process
the first day that
was streamlined, and prescription drugs are
patients were
quickly dispensed by machine.
welcomed into the
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program, the Youth at Risk program, the Cancer
Resource Center and many others. In addition,
the Auxiliary provides grants directly to many
Hospital departments to support projects and
programs which meet the special needs for our
patients. Over the years, the Auxiliary has been
Mercy Auxiliary a unique way to invest in the
well-being of our hospital and our community.
Participating in special events like the Crystal
Ball is a fun way to get our members involved
as we show our support for the many wonderful
initiatives. Investing funds raised today in the
9,500 square feet of
newly constructed Unity Emergency Room
space. The new space
houses seventeen private patient rooms that
have been outfitted for safety and comfort. In
addition, there are offices, a break room for
The doctors and nurses in the Emergency
Departments are dedicated to continually
improving not only the care for patients, but how
the patients are cared for in their Emergency
Department.
one of the largest contributors to the Foundation
and Hospital each and every year. Louise
Cottrell, President of the Mercy Auxiliary, has
stated, “Mercy Hospital Auxiliary is committed
to supporting the Mercy & Unity Hospitals
Foundation. We believe in the good work of the
Foundation for the Hospital and the surrounding
coffee and gift shops bring great satisfaction
in know that it contributes to an even stronger
Mercy for tomorrow.”
For their longstanding dedication, sense of
community, and philanthropy, we are truly
grateful.
staff and a new control/monitoring area. The
response to the new space by patients, families,
physicians, and staff has been enthusiastically
positive. Phase II of the renovation of the 10,000
square feet of existing Emergency Department
space was completed in March 2008. This area
includes additional patient rooms, a second
For further information on the Emergency
Departments contact Judy Hoaglund at
Unity Hospital, 763.236.4233 or email
judy.hoaglund@allina.com and Marian McCann
at Mercy Hospital, 763.236.7134 or email
marian.mccann@allina.com.
community.”
control/monitoring area, a family consultation