Auxiliary president Diane Thornton (left) represented the group of 250 volunteers in making the donation to Tania Vrionis, the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation executive director, and Craig Goulet, the hospital site director. The artwork they held up shows the expansion.
Photograph by: Heather Colpitts , Langley Advance
A sea of blue has created a whole bunch of green. The Langley Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, whose members are identified by blue smocks, have donated $500,000 to the maternity campaign.
"This donation is a continuation of the support that the LMH Auxiliary has given our hospital over the last six and a half decades," said Diane Thornton, LMH Auxiliary president.
Langley Memorial Hospital's project is worth $11.66 milion and the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation, its fundraising branch, is working to raise $5.35 million. Langley's hospital, with about 1,800 live births per year, is one of the region's busiest maternity units.
The project would see the hospital add seven additional single occupant rooms, space for three additional rooms to sup-port future expansion, a Post Anesthetic Recovery Unit (PACU) room which will allow families to stay together after surgery, expansion of the Langley Maternity Clinic and relocation to a permanent home inside the maternity unit, renovated and expanded nursery space, additional on-call rooms for medical students, and a new multi-purpose space for training and meetings
The hospital auxiliary may be most well known for its Penny Pinchers thrift shop downtown on 56th Avenue or for operating the hospital gift shop, but the organization with more than 250 volunteers has worked since 1948 to support the local hospital. It oversees the lottery ticket booth at the hospital, offers meet and greet services on site, and oversees the Candystriper program for teen volunteers. Since 1994, the auxiliary's total contribution has added up to some $6.56 million.
The foundation was created in 1985 to support the hospital and local health care, and has raised more than $30 million since it started through its fundraisers.
