The Annual Meeting and Luncheon of the Auxiliary of Emerson Hospital was held on Friday, October 7 at the Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord. This year’s event featured Dr. Jon DuBois, Medical Director of the Mass General Cancer Center at Emerson Hospital – Bethke. The title of his talk was Holistic Cancer Care: Blending Science and Sensitivity. Dr. DuBois is a champion of programs supporting and nurturing the practice of compassionate and humanistic care. He believes that the blending of the science, as well as the human side of medicine, is critical to the successful caregiving of a patient diagnosed with cancer. In his presentation, Dr. DuBois spoke about four aspects to the cancer experience – predicting, diagnosis, treatment, and patient follow up, as well as advances in research and care.
Auxiliary President Betty Ann Killian of Concord led the Annual Meeting and announced an Auxiliary gift of $79,500 to the Hospital. The gift will support many programs at Emerson. Among them are two bays in the new Naka Infusion Center, allowing comfort and privacy for oncology patients as they receive infusion chemotherapy. During his remarks, Dr. DuBois thanked the Auxiliary for its many years of support, saying, “The Auxiliary has always been there for the Cancer Center. Auxiliary fundraising has not only been critical for our progress and supporting the new facility, but even more important, in making a difference in the patient experience.”
During her report, Betty Ann described additional Auxiliary-funded programs, including Emerson’s Pediatric Intervention Team; Orchid Rounding, an innovative digital rounding tool to enhance patients’ experiences, and Global Smile which is a non-profit organization that supports cleft palate surgery for infants. Betty Ann expressed her gratitude for the wide range of contributions made by Auxiliary members – last year Auxilians made and donated over 1,000 handcrafted teddy bears that are included in Pediatric Coping Kits which go to young patients who are cared for at Emerson to help soothe their hospital experience. Betty Ann concluded her remarks by saying, “The Auxiliary is proud to enhance the patient experience of Emerson’s oncology patients in the same manner as Dr. DuBois: By focusing not just on the medical aspect of the disease, but on the human side as well.”
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The Auxiliary of Emerson Hospital supports Emerson through increased community awareness, health-related education, and fundraising initiatives. Over the past decade, the Auxiliary’s fundraising efforts have raised more than $3 million for hospital equipment, facilities, and services. For more information about the Auxiliary, email EmersonAuxiliary@gmail.com, or visit www.EmersonHospital.org
Emerson Hospital is a multi-site health system headquartered in Concord, Mass., with additional facilities in Sudbury, Groton and Westford. The 179-bed hospital provides advanced medical services to more than 300,000 individuals in 25 towns. To learn more, visit www.emersonhospital.org.
