O'Bleness Memorial Hospital recently kicked off the 2006 O'Bleness Annual Giving Campaign, which will feature a campaign geared especially toward Ohio University faculty and staff.
OU and O'Bleness have an interactive relationship that benefits both the university and the hospital, said Deborah Shaffer, director of development for O'Bleness.
It's important to realize how we are involved with OU
she said. We hope people see that as a reason to support the campaign.
About 2,600 students visited the emergency room last year. O'Bleness also provides multidisciplinary internships and serves as a training hospital for College of Osteopathic Medicine students, said Donetta Bantle, chair of the giving campaign and an OU employee.
Bantle's committee is contacting 25-30 of last year's major donors from OU and has sent envelopes to other faculty and staff.
The donations from this year's campaign will be used in purchasing innovative imaging equipment for O'Bleness and three of its affiliates. The purchases for O'Bleness will include new fluoroscopy and digital equipment and a digital mammography unit for the Castrop Center. The funds will also be used to buy and install digital X-ray systems in the Meigs and Albany medical clinics.
With the new equipment, physicians can look at live computerized images of their patients. Digital imaging is faster and more environmentally sound than using film. If a student has an image taken at O'Bleness, his or her primary-care physician can view it immediately from anywhere with the proper equipment, Shaffer said.
The 2005 O'Bleness Annual Giving Campaign raised $150,000, of which OU faculty and staff contributed $24,000. The goal of this year's campaign is to match or to exceed last year's earnings, Shaffer said.
The hospital has received lead gifts - totaling $65,000 - from American Electric Power, Farmers Bank and Savings Company in Pomeroy, The Guild of O'Bleness and Radiology Associates of Athens, she said.
In addition to the OU community, the hospital is asking for contributions from the Athens community and the hospital staff, Bantle said.
O'Bleness is a private, not-for-profit hospital. The Annual Giving Campaign typically is the largest fundraiser of the year for the hospital, Shaffer said.
We have been able to do what we do because of the generosity of the community which includes OU she said.
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Annie Hartman
