Texas County Memorial Hospital employees were recently recognized by the TCMH Healthcare Foundation for giving it more than $27,000.
The employee members of the “Helping Hands” donor program, the healthcare foundation’s employee-giving program, received an engraved acorn by the recognition tree after reaching the milestone.
The foundation also recognized all hospital employees with a barbecue lunch including some giveaways for the 125 employees that are “Helping Hands Partners,” the employees signed up in the donation program.
Helping Hands Partners began in July 2006 as a way for hospital employees to give back to the hospital. Through a set payroll deduction amount or one-time giving, TCMH employees make donations to the foundation.
Helping Hands donations total about $522 per pay period, reaching more than $13,000 a year. Jay Gentry, director of the TCMH Healthcare Foundation, noted that with each pay period, the accumulated donations from employees continue to climb.
“The Helping Hands Partners donations are the cornerstone of the healthcare foundation,” Gentry said. “We are grateful for the continued and unwavering support of the foundation’s mission.”
Donations from employees in the program are undesignated, meaning they go into the general fund of the healthcare foundation to help with educational scholarships for healthcare professionals, to support health-oriented community events and to assist with equipment or service needs for TCMH. Foundation board members also utilize money from the program to help TCMH employees in crisis situations due circumstances like a family death or a medical emergency.
“The money the employees put into the program not only benefits their hospital, but it is used to help out their fellow employees,” Gentry said. “In an organization with more than 400 employees, frequent situations arise where the employees are asked to help out others.”
Wes Murray, chief executive officer at TCMH, noted that TCMH employees have been known for their generosity to many community needs.
“It is a huge compliment to our hospital to have our own employees give back to the hospital with such generosity,” Murray said. “It’s an honor to work at a place where the employees believe so strongly in the services we provide to our community.”