Cardiologist Dr. Lloyd J. Kellam, III, Honorary Ball Chairman for the 50th annual Hospital Ball hosted by the Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. Proceeds of the event will help fund the Auxiliary's pledge to the Shore Heart Center within the new hospital.
Eighty seven years after the 1928 opening of the first hospital on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, the hospital currently under construction has been the focus of tireless fundraising by the Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. This dynamic group of volunteers has pledged the proceeds from years of their fundraising efforts to support the new building and the care that will be provided within.
The hospital Auxiliary has pledged $520,000 to support the construction of the Shore Heart Center, a unit contained within the new hospital, Jane Bulette, President of the Auxiliary, announced.
The Shore Heart Center will provide diagnostics and treatment, led by cardiologist Dr. Lloyd J. Kellam, III, an Eastern Shore native.
Fundraising will be complete by 2017, Bulette said.
“It will be the largest gift we’ve ever made, and we’re really excited about being able make such a significant contribution to health care on the Shore,” Bulette said.
The founding members of the Auxiliary raised funds in the 1920s for the first hospital on the Shore. Ever since, the Auxiliary has been a mainstay in the community, raising funds for every major improvement project the hospital has undertaken.
“They are a fundraising engine that is incredible for our community, for any community,” said Kellam. “Any good thing that has happened around here they have been part of. Every new piece of equipment they’ve had a hand in somehow.”
Over the years Auxiliary funds have helped to pay for construction of the Riverside Shore Cancer Center, scholarships, redecorating projects, landscaping and hospital equipment.
The Auxiliary has been recognized by the American Hospital Association for “dedicated and distinguished service on behalf of the hospital.”
In addition, earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly commended the Auxiliary with a Senate and House resolution honoring their dedication to the community on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Hospital Ball, one of their premier fundraising efforts and a popular social event on the Shore. This year, the Ball will be held on September 19, and proceeds from the event will help to fulfill the Auxiliary’s pledge to the Shore Heart Center.
Fifty years after the very first Hospital Ball, the milestone event will honor Kellam as the event’s Honorary Chairman.
“We felt like the Heart Center was the best way we could touch as many lives as possible in the community,” Bulette said. “We wanted to have an impact on the healthcare of our community, and we wanted to honor the tireless dedication of Dr. Kellam. So many people on the Shore have Dr. Kellam to thank for saving their lives. This is our chance to thank him. Our pledge to the Center and our request that Dr. Kellam serve as Honorary Chairman of the 50th Ball came together with peRiverside Foundationect timing.”
Kellam noted that a new building and the latest technology will be exciting, but it’s not only about the building. “Medicine on the Shore has always been more about the people delivering the healthcare. Our people are very good at what we do, and we focus on treating our patients as though they were members of our own family,” Kellam said.
That’s the Riverside Care Difference, Kellam said, and “it’s the right thing to do.”