Newman Regional Health’s media team is among the administrators that are extremely pleased with how Denim & Diamonds fared this past Friday. And it’s not just because the event went into record territory with fundraising.
Business Development Marketing Specialist Saylor Middleton, Event and Donor Coordinator Jelinda Watts and Director of Marketing and Public Relations Kacie Hastings all joined KVOE’s Morning Show on Wednesday to talk about the event and its significance to the hospital. Middleton revealed the total as part of the interview:
Denim and Diamonds typically singles out one aspect of hospital operations to benefit. This year, it’s surgical equipment. Hastings thanked the community for its involvement.
The night featured the traditional live and silent auction items, as well as music from country musician Frankie Ballard. It also featured the contributions of two longtime physicians, Dr James Glenn and the late Dr Jim Geitz, representing more than 70 years of medical care between the two. Watts was helping to organize the event for the first time since joining the hospital’s administrative team earlier this year.
Fundraising is significant of its own accord, but it comes with Newman Regional Health developing its path forward as an Anchor Hospital through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program and also starting the public push for the nearly $60 million Building On capital and construction campaign. Middleton says Denim and Diamonds meant a celebration of for past, present and future.
Watts says Building On is designed to transform the hospital.
Regional conversations involving Newman Regional Health and nearby facilities like Coffey Health System, Greenwood County Hospital, Morris County Hospital and St Luke of the Flint Hills in Marion started back in May as part of the Rural Health Transformation Program. The specific Anchor Hospital designation will lead to more use of wearable technology for remote patient monitoring, increased use of artificial intelligence for electronic health records, enhancing rural residency programs in certain specialty areas and on-demand support. The nearly $60 million Building On campaign, meanwhile, will lead to significant demolition of much of the original hospital building, but it will also lead to a new patient tower, additional first-floor space, renovations of internal infrastructure and reconfigured internal space.
