Portland, October 6th. Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s 100th Anniversary Celebration included remarks from former ER Doc. Oregon Governor, John Kitzhaber. Guests had a chance to tour emergency vehicles including the Life Flight helicopter, AMR and Metro West ambulances, as well as Portland Fire & Rescue fire engine. (Photo credit, Dodge & Burn Studios)
Hundreds turned out for the celebration
Hands-on demonstrations included the virtual reality pain management system used in the Legacy Oregon Burn Center, and the da Vinci surgical robotic system used in the operating room.
Supporters were also encouraged to visit the Oregon Historical Society to see a new exhibit featuring items from the hospital’s past.
Take a trip back to when surgery cost $15 and nurses canned fruit for hospital meals. “100 Years at Legacy Emanuel” at the Oregon Historical Society examines the stories of those who were born, saved and trained at Emanuel.
The first nursing graduates pose. Legacy Emanuel has been central to the health and growth of the greater Portland area for 100 years — since its 1912 opening in a converted three-story house.
About Legacy Emanuel:
Founded by the Rev. Carl Renhard as a way to help the emerging community, Legacy Emanuel has developed into a pioneering medical center in the region for critical and advanced care. The Oregon Historical Society exhibit features a collection of photos, stories and artifacts that illustrate the history of medicine in Oregon.
Currently, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center occupies a vital role in the metropolitan area and in the region as a medical center with around-the-clock expertise for critical health conditions. With leading care for trauma, burn and intensive care, as well as serving as the initial hub for Life Flight and other critical care transport, Legacy Emanuel is central to serious care. Legacy Emanuel is a medical pacesetter, with specialists in virtually every health care.
Washington County Fairgrounds, October 17th. Jackie Hampton and Tina Bodaghi of Western Family Foods and Laurie Reser of Reser’s Fine Foods were among the Meals on Wheels supporters who raised more than $37,000 in just one hour to provide hot meals to seniors in the Washington County area. It was the organization’s first annual Harvest Breakfast presented by Key Bank. (Photo credit, Julie Piper Finley)
Jason McCleskey, Vice President and Washington County Retail Leader for Key Bank
The capacity crowd of business leaders and volunteers gathered in the Cloverleaf Building at the Washington County Fairgrounds to hear volunteers Laurie Reser, Reser’s Fine Foods, and Tina Bodaghi and Jackie Hampton, Western Family Foods, share their experiences of delivering Meals on Wheels to local seniors. All three are long-time volunteers for the organization. The event received a broad base of support from the business community within Washington County and generated both much-needed funds as well as new volunteers.
Laurie Reser of Reser’s Fine Foods
Key Bank was the event presenting sponsor. Other sponsors included: Frontier Communications, Regence BlueCross BlueShield, Liberty Northwest Insurance, Avamere, Providence St. Vincent Hospital, Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships and Western Family Foods.
About Meals on Wheels People:Since 1970 the Meals on Wheels People has provided a nutritional and social lifeline for seniors through 35 meal sites in Multnomah, Washington and Clark counties and Meals on Wheels delivery to homebound seniors. With the help of nearly 10,000 volunteers, the nonprofit organization now serves 5,000 meals daily and 1.2 million meals each year. Visit: www.mealsonwheelspeople.org.
Portland, September 9th. At a freewheeling Scavenger Hunt organized by the nonprofit BACKBONES, one person per team was required to be in a wheelchair; some people were trying it for the first time. The hunt started at the Mercy Corps Building and took teams around the Rose City. Participants learned about spinal cord research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon and had a great time doing it. The event marked Spinal Chord Awareness Month and attracted a wide range of attendees.
Ashley Schahfer holds up a team t-shirt from the Scavenger Hunt.
“Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world.” – Mohandas Gandhi
Reveca Torres, founder of BACKBONES from Illinois, gets a hug from one of the competitors.
The nonprofit was started in the Chicago area by Reveca Torres whose spinal cord was fractured in an automobile accident when she was a teenager. BACKBONES launched in Portland last year.
From BACKBONES:
BACKBONES exists to provide free support for people with spinal cord injury and their families. Through our network we facilitate telephone, in-person, or web-based connections and encourage growth by the sharing of experiences and ideas. As a host to events, BACKBONES creates an inviting atmosphere where people can ask questions, learn from each other informally, and make lasting friendships. If you’d like to get involved, here’s a link: http://backbonesonline.com/
Portland, September 15th. Portland Fruit Tree Project marked an exciting milestone with a big multi-site urban harvesting event. There were four harvest sites and one team was entirely bike powered – a new harvest method for the nonprofit.
Over 640 pounds of fruit was sent to the NE Emergency Food Program & to Urban Gleaners. (Photo Credit, Amanda Rohde)
Over 40 volunteers harvested 1,281.5 pounds of fruit (photo credit Kimi Nam)
About half of the fruit was shared with the harvest volunteers – half of whom are low income themselves.
The event ended with a celebratory lunch while representatives from the NE Emergency Food Program & Urban Gleaners spoke about the impact the fruit from Portland Fruit Tree Project has on their organizations and the people they serve.
The grapes were ripe for the picking! (Photo credit, Kimi Nam)
200th Harvest (Photo credit, Amanda Rohde)
Since 2007 Portland Fruit Tree Project has brought together thousands of diverse Portlanders to harvest and distribute more than 100,000 lbs of fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste from hundreds of neighborhood fruit trees. 50% of fruit harvested by PFTP goes to local food pantries, and the rest goes to harvest participants, the majority of whom are living on low incomes. Since 2007 PFTP has provided fresh fruit to more than 10,000 low income families.
Portland Fruit Tree Project is a grass-roots non-profit organization that provides a community-based solution to a critical and growing need in Portland and beyond: Access to healthy food. By empowering neighbors to share in the harvest and care of urban fruit trees, we are preventing waste, building community knowledge and resources, and creating sustainable, cost-free ways to obtain healthy, locally-grown food. Because money doesn’t grow on trees… but fruit does!
“We organize people to gather fruit before it falls, and make it available to those who need it most. We register fruit and nut trees throughout the city, bring people together to harvest and distribute thousands of pounds of fresh fruit each year, and teach tree care and food preservation in hands-on workshops.”
Portland, September 14th. MIKE Program supporters enjoyed an upbeat fundraiser at the Multnomah Athletic Club. The nonprofit raised over $50,000 to help empower youth to be health leaders—ambassadors for health—through education, mentorship and community outreach. (Photo credit, Anna M. Campbell)
MIKE Program Board of Directors member Brent Barnett, Roy Jay, An Autumn Evening Chair Kathe Fradkin, and Keith Lyons presided over the successful evening.
Former Oregon State Senator Margaret Carter, who serves as director of Community Engagement with Oregon Health & Human Services, and Bobbie Dore Foster, executive director of The Skanner News and member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors, joined in the fun during the festive evening.
MIKE is an acronym for: Multicultural Integrated Kidney Education. The program works to fight chronic disease conditions which harm kidneys including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. These health issues are are increasingly impacting our children, especially low income and minority children.
Supporters work to empower more youth to be health leaders to counter chronic diseases of diabetes, high blood pressure . They explain that By 2020, Medicare expenses for kidney failure in the U.S. are expected to reach $54 billion.
Annually, MIKE Program empowers over 160 diverse youth in the Portland Metro Area to be ambassadors of health. MIKE Program recruits and trains caring adults to match with the youth on a 1:4 ratio, supporting them in the teens’ educational and experiential environments. The customized curriculum meets national health promotion and career related learning standards, as the teens develop individualized health promotion projects for their communities. MIKE Program provides critical interventions to the dire health consequences of poor nutrition, physical inactivity, risky behaviors, and poor access to health care.
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