The Heart of the Hospital Now known as Volunteer Services, the Auxiliary has a long history of selfless service By Britt Towery The idea began in November 1966, when Kootenai Memorial Hospital opened the doors to its new facility. There would be a need for volunteer support to provide comfort to patients and benefit the staff and hospital. In early 1967, the Auxiliary formed to fulfill three key roles: increase greater community interest in, and understanding of, the hospital; furnish volunteer services; and help with fundraising. Each fall during the 1960s and 1970s, the Auxiliary hosted the annual Harvest Charity Ball. Combined with the proceeds from gift shop sales, these two key funding sources were critical for raising money to provide additional needed equipment for the hospital. At its peak, the Auxiliary consisted of 150 adult and 48 teen volunteer “Candy Stripers,” who contributed their time to assist with various hospital activities. The volunteers relieved trained hospital personnel of many duties they would’ve otherwise had to perform. Upon their 15th year of service, the Auxiliary had raised more than $80,000 and provided more than 100,000 volunteer hours to the hospital. Decades of partnership In 1983, the Kootenai Medical Center Foundation was formed as the nonprofit fundraising arm of the hospital. The first gift received by the Foundation from the Auxiliary was for $20,000. A memorial scholarship was established by the volunteers to honor Kim Svee, a teen volunteer. The scholarship is available on a yearly basis to teen volunteers with qualifying hours of service. As the organization has transitioned from an Auxiliary to the Volunteer Services department of the hospital, this critical philanthropic partnership has continued. Through proceeds from sales at the hospital gift shop, the volunteers have invested in every major capital campaign at the hospital, including the Health Resource Center, rehab services, cancer services, intensive care unit, youth behavioral health, neonatal intensive care unit, electrophysiology, Big Blue Coffee Company and the 3 East hospital expansion. In 2003, the Auxiliary provided a major gift of $100,000 to benefit the original Heart Center 20
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