- North Coast Health

Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Lakewood, OH
Permit No. 4524
A Celebration of Caring
Fall Newsletter | November 2008
In this Issue:
2008 Celebration of Caring
...page 3
What’s Happening at NCHM ...page 5
Letter from the Medical Director
...page 7
Volunteer Spotlight
...page 8
Celebration of Caring Donors
...page 9
Planned Giving in a
Challenging Economy
...page 10
Brian M. King, Chair
John Griffiths, Vice-Chair
Keith Vanderburg, Esq., Vice-Chair
William C. Huffman, Esq., Secretary
Lawrence E. Yunaska, CPA, Treasurer
Bill Backus
The Honorable Pam Bobst
Neal Chadwick, M.D.
David J. Coury
Reverend Lawrence Craig
Fred DeGrandis
David DeRoma
Bryan Gillette
Jack Gustin
Wendy Kieding
David Renta
Julius Skerlan
Michael C. Smith, M.D.
Carol Sterba
Staff
Lee E. Elmore, Executive Director
Philip E. Tomsik, M.D., Medical Director
As we approach the gift-giving season, I have been reflecting upon the Gospel
story of the widow’s offering (Mark 12: 41-44). In the story, Christ is observing
the wealthy making their offerings, when one impoverished widow enters the
temple to make her contribution. Compared to other gifts, it is an insignificant
amount. In Jesus’ eyes, however, it is an offering beyond measure.
We at North Coast Health Ministry have been blessed to witness that the
widow’s spirit lives on today. In the midst of the most difficult economy since
the Great Depression, many have responded to our Annual Appeal with the
widow’s same generosity of spirit. We are extremely grateful for every gift we
have received – the $25 gifts as well as the $500 gifts. Every gift, of every size,
is critical to our being able to continue offering health care to the low-income
uninsured in our community. Each gift is a plank on the bridge to better health
that North Coast Health Ministry strives to be for those with no other route to
health care.
As we at NCHM reflect on our blessings in this season of thanksgiving, we
are grateful to witness the widow’s spirit alive in our many supporters and our
untiring volunteers. We are grateful to witness the courage of our patients
who often come to us at the most challenging times of their lives. And we are
grateful for the opportunity to be about Christ’s work.
Celebration of Caring 2008
The 2008 Celebration of Caring was the most successful in North Coast Health
Ministry’s history, with more than $65,000 raised. Nearly 250 guests turned
out to support the ministry and enjoy live and silent auctions, gift balloons,
appetizers, drinks and dinner. Raffle tickets were sold for a Cleveland Browns
loge for 12, donated by Workflow.com, with the winning ticket drawn at the
evening’s end.
The fundraiser included presentation of NCHM’s
“2008 Community Champion Award” to Al and
Julie Paulus for their long history of service and
support for the organization.
“The purpose of the Community Champion
Award,” says Lee Elmore, executive director,
“is to recognize outstanding and significant contributions by individuals for
the betterment of North Coast Health Ministry on a long-term basis and to
recognize individuals who have worked to improve access for the
uninsured. Al and Julie were selected based on their sustained
history of support for North Coast Health Ministry and their
untiring advocacy for the organization. Our ministry is
stronger for their involvement.”
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Following presentation of the Community
Champion Award, guests got to hear a
presentation from NCHM patient Armando
Ramos, a 29-year-old man who has had Type 1
diabetes since he was a child. Armando recounted
that, due to his family’s economic circumstances
while he was growing up, his diabetes had never been
properly managed. Armando eventually lost his eyesight
as a complication of his disease. He recently became an NCHM patient, and
for the first time in his life, his diabetes is being controlled. Our social worker
helped him access a “talking” glucose monitor that empowers him to monitor
his blood sugar levels and self-manage his condition.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, there are 2,000 stories like
Armando’s every year at North Coast Health Ministry.
Thank you to our
Celebration of Caring Sponsors:
Advancing Sponsor
Fairview and Lakewood Hospitals
Next year’s Celebration of Caring will be
held on Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Location to be announced.
Mark your calendars!
Supporting Sponsors
Advantage Consulting Services
Ernst & Young
First Federal of Lakewood
Rae-Ann Skilled Nursing
and Rehabilitation Centers
Carol and Charles Rini, Sr.
University Hospitals
NCHM thanks the staff of Lakewood
Hospital for their generous support in
making the evening possible and the
following volunteers for their vital help in preparing for the event:
Celebration of Caring Benefit Committee
Julie Barkley, Karen Forte, Sue Friedel, Nancy Geschke, Mary Lou Kerr, Wendy
Kieding, Megan Malone, Cathi Paterson, Elizabeth O’Brien, Debbie Riddle, Kate
Sessions, Zita Spellacy, Mary Helen Walsh
NCHM Launches AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings Program
North Coast Health Ministry began
partnering with AstraZeneca in May to
access free medication for qualifying patients
through the AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings
Program. The AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings Program for health care facilities
provides medicines free of charge to community free clinics, health centers,
hospitals and other qualifying facilities that serve the uninsured.
“AstraZeneca believes that our responsibility goes beyond making lifesaving
medicines. Sometimes people need help affording their medicines and we are
committed to helping them do this,” said Karissa Laur, director of patient
assistance programs. “Last year AstraZeneca provided nearly $20 million in
savings to nearly 18,000 people in Ohio, and we are looking forward to working
with North Coast Health Ministry to help even more people.”
David Coury Receives Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year Award
North Coast Health Ministry board member
David Coury was awarded the 2008 Ernst
& Young Northeast Ohio Entrepreneur of
the Year award in the Health Sciences and
Environmental category.
David is the founder and president of Pharmacy
Management Group (PMG), a Westlake-based
provider of pharmaceutical care and support to
nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Since
its founding eight years ago, PMG has grown from a staff of 14 to over 140
professionals and has grown to cover all of Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Under David’s leadership, North Coast Health Ministry was able to launch its
Drug Repository Program, through which NCHM can accept unopened and
unused drugs donated by nursing homes. The program allows NCHM to store
and dispense a set of life-saving prescription drugs that are difficult for many
low-income patients to access due to their high cost.
Volunteer Spotlight:
Mary Lou Kerr
Nobel Peace Prize winner and peace
movement advocate Jane Addams once said, “The good we secure
for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated
into our common life.” This sense of community or “common life” is what drives all of
us at North Coast Health Ministry. It is, I suspect, the driver for our many volunteers and
supporters as well.
Caring for the uninsured has become increasingly difficult in our current economy. Our
number of new patients continues to grow at a brisk rate. This is evident by the growing
line at our doors just before 8:30 a.m. each day when our walk-in clinic begins. The
conditions we are treating are becoming more and more complicated as more previously
insured patients with multiple chronic illnesses are entering into the uninsured population.
Our economy has left many people in situations they never dreamed of or prepared for.
We are seeing patients on a daily basis who state that they have always worked and do not
know what to do since losing their jobs; people who say they never before have had to deal
with lack of insurance or lack of financial security. I have had patients tell me that they
have seriously contemplated choosing homelessness to escape current financial and
relationship stressors.
We are making a difference for the many patients who seek our care—we are keeping
people out of the hospital and are providing relief to some desperate situations. With the
help of our supporters in the community, we are bringing stability to many in some very
tumultuous times.
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Mary Lou Kerr began volunteering at North Coast Health Ministry almost two
years ago. She came to the ministry at the recommendation of her daughter, a
physician’s assistant who had heard about the vital services NCHM provides to
the medically underserved from the surgeons she works with.
As a volunteer, Mary Lou has performed many roles,
including assisting with patient mailings, assembling
new patient packets, sorting prescription medication,
and making patient screening and follow-up telephone
calls. She was also a member of the 2008 Celebration of
Caring volunteer committee, soliciting donations from
area businesses and assisting with invitation assembly.
“It’s rewarding to be able to help,” says Mary Lou.
“Anyone could be without insurance, and it could
happen to any one of us, given the right circumstances.”
Married to her husband Jim for 52 years, Mary Lou is a mother of four,
grandmother of 12 and great-grandmother of one. She is retired from a fulltime career that included working for Key Bank, Baldwin-Wallace College, and
the Cleveland Public Schools. She says North Coast
Health Ministry is one of the most enjoyable places
she’s ever worked.
Are you interested in
volunteering at North
Coast Health Ministry?
Please contact Lee Elmore at
216-228-7878, ext. 101.
“I look forward to coming here,” she says. “It’s
so wonderful the way the staff and volunteers treat
patients with such respect and kindness.”
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Celebration Donors (continued):
A Special Thank You to our Celebration Donors
We would like to recognize the following donors who contributed items or
provided monetary support for live or silent auction items or gift balloons.
Shawn Adorno/Aflac
Akron Aeros
Akron Civic Theatre
Akron Symphony Orchestra
Al Wilhelmy Flowers
Alpine Valley Ski Area
Aluminum Line Products
Angelo’s Pizza
Around the Corner
Saloon & Café
Bill & Sue Backus
Blake’s Seafood
Resturant and Bar
Brennan’s Catering &
Banquet Center
The Brown Aveda Institute
Rocky River
Bucci’s
Build-A-Bear Workshop
Clague Playhouse
Cleveland Botanical Gardens
Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Magazine
Cleveland Metroparks
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Cleveland Museum
of Natural History
The Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Play House
Cord Camera
CoreFocal, Inc.
Gary Mann,
Managing Director
Joseph & Susan K. Corsaro
Cox Communications
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Creekwood Golf Course
Cuyahoga Valley
Scenic Railroad
Dianne’s Purls
Don’s Lighthouse
Einstein Brothers/Lakewood
EMC Unique
Emerald Woods
Golf Courses
Fairview Cycle
Fairview Lanes
Firefly’s Minigolf
Fish Furniture
Fitness Edge
Five Seasons Sports Club
Folicle (a salon)
Frank Ellis Hair Design
Gale’s Westlake
Garden Center
Geiger’s
General Theaters
Management
Gene’s Place
Ginger Care Massotherapy
GK’s Custom Polishing, Inc.
Goddess Blessed
Great Lakes
Brewing Company
John & Mary Griffiths
Gymboree
Chris & Sandy Haas
Half-Price Books/
Rocky River
Hampton Inn, Cleveland
Harry’s Steak House
Highlights for Children
Holiday Inn Cleveland West
House of Blues
IHOP
The Improv Comedy Club
& Restaurant
Inner Bliss Yoga Studio
Jax Store for Men & Women
N.L. Jazwa
Joe’s Deli
David Kempton/
Herbruck Alder
Wendy Kieding
Karen Kilbane/Jazzercize
Brian & Donna King
Lake Erie Monsters
Lake Erie
Nature & Science Center
Lakewood Furnace Co.
Lakewood Hospital
Laurice Skin Care
& Cosmetics
The Little Tikes Company
Lolly the Trolley
Longhorn Steakhouse/
Fairview Park
Mahall’s Lanes
Mary Kay Cosmetics
Carol Mason/
Mary Kay Cosmetics
Melt Bar and Grilled
Memphis Entertainment
Group
Miller Boat Line
Modern International Graphics
Moran Massotherapy
Moxie/Red
National Inventors
Hall of Fame
North Coast Health Ministry
Staff
Northfield Park
O’Malley’s Rockcliff
Orlando Bread Co.
Papa John’s/Lakewood
Pat Catan’s Craft Centers
D. Thomas and
Cathi Paterson
Peter & Co. Jewelers
Petitti Garden Centers
Pickwick & Frolic
Restaurant & Club,
Home to Hilarities 4th
Street Theatre
Playground World
Rae-Ann Skilled Nursing
and Rehabilitation Centers
Red Lantern
Rego’s
Dave & Sara Reid
Revelations
Revitalize Massotherapy
Riverview Martial Arts
Tim & Nancy Rowell
Rozi’s
Spencer Seaman
Bob & Kate Sessions
Shedd Aquarium
Sherwin-Williams
Automotive Finishes
Julius & Sheila Skerlan
Michael & Kathy Smith
Stampers Grill Pub
Stanton’s Touch
Flower Shoppe
Rick & Carol Sterba
Studio South Photography
Styling Tips Salon
Subway - Northland Plaza
(Lakewood)
Swan Creek Candle Co.
T&G Flying Club, Inc.
Peter & Suzanne Titas
Phil & Megan Tomsik
Trader Joe’s
Valley View Cinemark
Nancy Weiss
Kathy Weiss, L.M.T.
West Park Massotherapy
Westwood Country Club
Winking Lizard Tavern
Workflow.com
Zeppe’s Pizzeria/Westlake
Caring for Our Neighbors
Planned Giving in a Challenging Economy
We are all concerned as the economy is experiencing unprecedented volatility.
During such uncertain times, it is important to focus on what really matters.
This includes how we function as a community, caring for our neighbors,
especially those less fortunate.
Now is a great time to make a gift to the community that will offer help and
hope to those who need it most. Thanks to various tax laws that encourage
charitable giving, you can make a planned gift and receive some additional
benefits. Did you know that you can create a Charitable Gift Annuity
that provides predictable income of at least 5% to you, receive income tax
deductions, and help your community at the same time?
Community West Foundation is a partner in
philanthropy to North Coast Health Ministry and offers
us their expertise in these kinds of planned gifts. We
would welcome an opportunity to work with you and your advisor to structure
a gift so it is optimally advantageous both to you and to the community.
For more information on Planned Giving opportunities, please contact Lee
Elmore, Executive Director, North Coast Health Ministry at 216-228-7878,
ext. 101.
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