Sharing Hearts Luncheon 2007

  It may have been the 13^th annual event, but the 2007 edition of the Lincoln Hospital Foundation Sharing Hearts Luncheon was anything but unlucky.

  “Thirteen years, $113,465 raised by you for projects and another $13,492 for the permanent Endowment Fund,” said Cheryl Nelson, RN, addressing the nearly 200 ladies from across Lincoln County who had gathered for the annual fund-raiser. “These are truly amazing numbers, and your generous gifts have touched the lives of countless people you know and love on a daily basis.”

   Hoping the ladies would embrace this year’s patient-centered project, Nelson explained that the luncheon proceeds would go toward the purchase of a Biodex Fall Risk Screening and Conditioning Program. “This is an awesome piece of technology,” Nelson said. “It uses cutting-edge technology to assess and improve patient balance and mobility.”

   Nelson told the crowd that 25 percent of the elderly who sustain a hip fracture die within one year. “And up to 25 percent of adults who lived independently before breaking their hip, have to stay in a nursing home for at least a year after their injury.”

   As falls account for 70 percent of all injury related costs for the elderly, the Biodex Fall Risk Screening system is a positive addition to Lincoln Hospitals physical and rehabilitation therapy program.

   “Not only could we use this to assess nursing home patients, but to do fall risk screening for the community. If the assessment shows you have balance or weakness problems, you would get a referral for physical therapy to correct it before you experience a fall,” says Nelson.

   The Biodex is also used by athletes recovering from injury. “So it’s a great tool for all ages.”

   The ladies present were impressed with the preventative and rehabilitative nature of this project and gave an impressive $12,200 to make sure it was brought to their local hospital, and gave $1,700 toward the permanent Endowment Fund.

   “I’m always overwhelmed with the generosity of the ladies present at this event,” says Lincoln Hospital Foundation director Linda Wagner. “Year after year, they wrap their arms around these projects and make Lincoln Hospital a better place. It is because of their support that the quality of care here is so high.”

   Not only did the ladies present give generously toward the project, but they were treated to a wonderful three salad lunch catered by Almira’s J&J Catering. The meal was followed by a humorous retrospective on life by Spokesman-Review Home and Garden Editor and self-proclaimed “ordinary woman” Cheryl-Ann Millsap.

   Millsap not only read an array of her favorite columns, but explained how an everyday wife and mother could become a newspaper writer.

   “I always had a flair for writing,” she explained. A former antique dealer, Millsap began her career for the Spokesman by developing “Treasure Hunt,” a weekly feature on antiques and collectibles. “I was a freelance writer – a stay at home mom with a good idea and the passion to write it up and send it in.”

   The Foundation is grateful to the hard-working table hostesses and the always generous donors who made this year’s project goal a reality and the corporate sponsors who underwrite the luncheon expenses allowing every dollar to be used for the purchase of the Biodex Fall Risk Assessment system. “We’re so appreciative of their support. Their commitment helps make this luncheon the huge success that is it,” says Wagner.