Vol. 38, No. 18

1-23-2008
By: Adam King

Campus Campaign: Finding emergency garb for emergency room patients

When patients come to the emergency room at the Medical Center, often their clothes are all but destroyed from injury or accident or have to be cut away during surgery. Sometimes their clothes become evidence because they’ve been sexually assaulted. Often they arrive only in bedclothes.

Patricia Williams, the Department of Emergency Medicine patient liaison, wanted to help those patients in some small way. On her own, she sought donations within the department to buy replacement clothing and send patients home with a modicum of modesty — and, during the winter, warmth.

Williams’ efforts, enthusiastically supported by Nurse Manager Janet Susi, convinced Kelly Scheiderer, administrator for emergency medicine, to turn her good deeds into a Campus Campaign fund to let the Ohio State community consider donating to the cause. The campaign officially kicks off Feb. 1 and runs through April 30.

“There’s a definite correlation between when the temperature drops and the number of clothes we pass out,” Williams said. “Not only will patients be dressed but warm. It shows the department has a complete circle of care for our patients.”

The new fund will allow Williams to purchase sweatshirts and sweatpants as well as underwear in varying sizes for all emergency patients. Most of the recipients have been the elderly, who arrive at night from assisted living facilities in their nightgowns and pajamas.

“You don’t want to send people back home like that,” Williams said. “The alternative is to send them out in scrubs, and that’s fine when it’s 90 degrees, but not in this weather.”

Williams said she hopes the new fund will provide enough money to put patients in a proper fit. She recently had to put a 100-pound woman in XXL sweats because that was the only size available.

“She looked adorable, but we can do better,” Williams said.

The Medical Center’s new fund is just one of more than 9,000 available for faculty, staff and retirees to donate to during the Campus Campaign, which has raised more than $118 million since 1985. Last year the campaign had 42 percent participation, its highest ever, raising more than $5.1 million.

Many employees, such as Carla Wilks, senior outreach program coordinator at the Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center, pick funds that are personal to them.

Wilks received a Staff Career Development Grant in 2006 to help her earn a certification in nonprofit management from Columbus State Community College. That allowed her to learn more about the nonprofit culture, effective management and relationship building. It was perfect timing because she was better prepared to manage the outreach program team of staff, students and volunteers. It also helped her fill the role of CEC interim director for a short time.

“Certificate programs are expensive, but the grant made it more attainable for me,” Wilks said. “Not all training comes through a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and I would have had to think longer and harder about pursuing the certificate without the grant.”

After her graduation, Wilks donated money back to the Campus Campaign because she felt a desire to thank Ohio State.

“Continuing education provides valuable opportunities to enrich lives but can represent a financial hardship,” she said. “For me, giving back is a way to say thank you and to invest, in some small way, in the life and perhaps dream of someone else. It’s right, it makes a difference and it feels good.”

For the first time this year, the Campus Campaign will have every fund available listed on its Web site (campuscampaign.osu.edu) in a searchable database that will go live March 1. In the meantime, funds can be viewed in indexed categories on the Web site, and online gifts can be made via payroll deduction or credit card.

Those who contribute $2,500 or more via payroll deduction, cash, securities or qualifying gifts-in-kind will receive recognition from and inclusion in The Presidents Club (giveto.osu.edu/areas/pc/index.asp), the university’s most prestigious major donor recognition group.

For more information about the Campus Campaign, contact ccampaign@osu.edu or 292-3065.

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