Samaritan Healthcare | The Samaritan | Summer 2018

Summer 2018 3 The Community Relations Committee of the Samaritan Healthcare Foundation is be- coming known for their increasingly popular community health education events. Bringing together area providers, dynamic speakers and topic experts, the committee invites community members to attend, free of charge. Popular past events have offered a focus on Aging & Adult Issues, Women’s Health and most recently, Cardiac Care. The Unexpected Faces of a Heart Attack event was a fun, informative and educational evening surrounding heart health. Held at Moses Lake’s Pillar Rock, the evening opened with a heart-healthy finger food and soup shooter menu designed by Stephanie Maiers. Guests were able to visit with Mary Graham of Jazzercise and Samaritan’s own Cardiac Rehab team. As the event kicked off, we heard from survivors Rocky Terry; Renee Ballinger; Jill Simon, MD; and John Peterson, who shared their individual stories of surprise, survival, lessons learned and moving forward. Each survivor had a unique experience to share with the audience—many times surprising us with similarities that were unexpected in a typical cardiac event. The conversation continued as clinical health experts Craig Harder, DDS; Michelle Starnes, RN; Matthew Newman, MD; Kelly Drayer, PhD, LMHC; Alan Roy; and Jennifer Avery joined the survivors at the front of the room.These experts shared prevention tips, explained how dental health plays an impor- tant role in heart health, encouraged aware- ness of the signs of a cardiac event and discussed overall heart-health strategies. The evening came to a close when the survivors and panelists answered questions from audience members. Events like these would not be possible without the work of the Samaritan Healthcare Foundation Community Relations Committee, local health experts and community members invested in bettering healthcare for all of Moses Lake and the surrounding area. Each event has increased in popularity and attendance, and those who attend leave feeling like they spent an evening among friends. Heart attack survivors, Jill Simon, MD, and Rocky Terry share their experiences with a captive audience at February’s Heart Health Event. Local experts take questions from the crowd at October’s Women’s Health Event. n Polly H., gift shop volunteer If you are interested in being notified about upcoming events, please email: foundation@ samaritanhealthcare.com or call 793-9645 . Polly has been volunteering at the Well Wishes Gift Shop for nine years. If you stop in on Wednesday morning, she’ll give you a friendly greeting and assist you with your shopping. The gift shop stocks gifts, cards, candy and fresh flowers. “I began volunteering because a friend told me about the opportunity,” says Polly. “We were watch- ing our granddaughters play basketball, and during our conversation she encouraged me to apply as a volunteer.” Polly enjoys caring for her customers at the gift shop. She also helps with light cleaning, restocking shelves, watering flowers and other needs that may arise. “I love giving back to the community by volunteering at the gift shop,” Polly says. “It’s a great way to brighten someone’s day, even if they don’t buy anything. Some people just come in because they need to talk to someone.” Polly also enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren as well as her cat Bandit, and dog, Rascal. She keeps busy with Jazzercise, and in warm weather she tends her vegetables in the com- munity garden. Selecting helpful volunteers is one more way Samaritan assists the healing process for our patients and their families. For more information about volunteering or to apply, call 793-9724 or visit samaritanhealthcare.com/about-us/volunteer . I am Samaritan. All of us. For each of you. Every time. We love our Samar i tan volunteers ! They ass i st pat ients and staf f in many depar tments throughout our medi cal campus . Community health education events Foundation focus