Honoring Philanthropy Winter 2022

HonoringPhilanthropy

Meet Gena Bravo, Woodland Memorial Hospital’s President and CEO

When most people picture a hospital, the image that usually comes to mind is of a clinical building filled with busy hallways and patient rooms. But for Gena Bravo, Woodland Memorial Hospital President and CEO since 2021, it’s much more than that. She believes, “Our hospital is very much a part of the community. We are more than our four walls, and our care for patients extends far beyond the campus.” This warm and inclusive spirit is what guides her leadership.

Gena started her career as a nurse in Mercy General Hospital’s Emergency Department 24 years ago. Raised by a disabled Vietnam veteran, from a young age Gena gained empathy and insight into the need to care for the under-resourced. “As a child, I was aware of health inequity, and saw people trying to access medical help. When I chose to dedicate my professional life to healthcare, my heart was always focused on getting into the community and serving others who have a hard time helping themselves.”

Message

from

our Vice President of Philanthropy

High-quality healthcare, by caring and trusted providers, in comfortable surroundings that are close to home— how lucky our community is to access healthcare in this excellent and supportive setting. Through your valued partnership with Woodland Healthcare Foundation, you help enable our hospital and clinics to offer the best care possible by funding cuttingedge technology, equipment, and programs that truly enhance the health of our community. These important advancements also help Woodland Healthcare retain and attract the best-and-brightest medical talent—an investment that will benefit our region for years to come.

We are deeply grateful for your support. The stories in this newsletter illustrate a sampling of the excellent leadership guiding the mission of Woodland Healthcare and also the impact of your generosity. Thank you for your kindness to our community!

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season and good health and happiness in the new year, Kevin

B. Duggan Vice President of Philanthropy

Gena Bravo, MSN, RN, HACP, has served for over two decades as a nurse and a leader for Dignity Health.

Partners in Philanthropy

Continued from cover

Since 2019, when she became Woodland Memorial Hospital’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nurse Executive, Gena has exemplified this commitment in many “boots on the ground” community health initiatives. “During the pandemic, my team put backpacks on and delivered ‘street medicine’ to help those in under-resourced populations. We also staffed mobile clinics to ensure equitable access to vaccines, serving migrant farm workers, those experiencing homelessness, students, the elderly, and people living in manufactured home communities.”

With determination and care, Gena and her team also visited every nursing home in Yolo County to train their employees on proper PPE usage and when one facility experienced a severe COVID outbreak, Gena, with other nurse leaders, created a No One Dies Alone program. “We would sit and give comfort to residents as they passed away, because their families weren't allowed inside.” Truly, Gena is steadfast in her energy and commitment to improve the health of the people we serve, including those most in need.

Two years ago, Gena and her family made the decision to move from Sacramento to Woodland,

as she says, “to really just embed ourselves in the community.” When asked what she loves most about Woodland, she says without hesitation, “the people.” She adds, “We really put down roots here and have made a lot of new friendships. When people in town recognize me or associate me with their healthcare, it's just an amazing feeling.”

Recently, Gena experienced her own healthcare challenge when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. Now 100% cancer free, Gena passionately encourages others to schedule their routine screenings. “I’m a nurse. I know better, but I missed two mammograms. So it’s a perfect example of how easily we can let those years slip by without putting ourselves first. We all need to get those screenings.”

Since her diagnosis, many loving and appreciative staff have pulled Gena aside to say they’d stopped postponing their own important checkups and seen their doctors for symptoms that concerned them. Earlier this fall, Woodland Memorial Hospital and its parking lot was lit up in pink to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “It gave me chills, and it was truly overwhelming.

All patients of Woodland Healthcare can see how deeply our community cares for them.”

In addition to her leadership at the hospital, Gena joined the Board of Trustees for Woodland Healthcare Foundation in 2019. When speaking of the impact of the generous donors to the Foundation, she says, “Our amazing donors help provide much needed equipment and services to our community, and their contributions help us care for our families, friends and neighbors. I feel such deep gratitude for their generosity.”

Thank you, Gena—we are grateful for your kindness, enthusiasm, generosity and empathy you extend to all around you. We know that with your excellent leadership, Woodland Memorial Hospital will continue providing compassionate, high-quality healthcare, close to home, for our community.

Gena Bravo, an outstanding example of humankindness, is dedicated to improving our community's health and well-being.

You Helped Patients On Their Breast Cancer Journeys

For any woman facing cancer, there is much to process: emotions, schedules, instructions, and information. It takes a community of love to help her navigate through treatment.

To support these deserving patients, Woodland Healthcare Foundation invited employee and community donors to help provide Post-Mastectomy Healing Kits for Woodland Healthcare patients facing breast cancer.

Leaving a Legacy

Your support and humankindness funded over 100 healing kits.

Each patient will know this kit, containing six helpful and comforting items, was generously made possible by you.

“The day I was notified I had breast cancer I searched for how to care for myself after a mastectomy, and found items which assisted with my healing. Providing these important supplies will support our patients' needs and comfort them during the difficult journey they will walk.”

—Lori

Maloney,

RN and Breast Cancer Survivor and Inspiration for the Healing Kit Program

Woodland Healthcare Foundation and those you have helped are deeply grateful to you for making a meaningful difference.

If you have included Woodland Healthcare Foundation in your estate plan, please let us know so we may thank and recognize you with a Legacy Society membership.

If you haven’t yet created your estate plan, Woodland Healthcare Foundation is pleased to offer you a free will-writing tool to help you make a plan for those you love:

freewill.com/woodlandhealthcarefoundation

FreeWill is an online resource that allows you to create a legally valid will at no cost in under 20 minutes or to easily gather information should you choose to work with an attorney.

Just as you have been there to support the future of Woodland Healthcare, we want to help you get your plans in order and care for the future of your loved ones.

If you have questions about using this simple tool to create your will or would like to learn about making an estate gift that will benefit you in your lifetime, please contact Kevin Duggan at kevin.duggan@dignityhealth.org.

Partners in Philanthropy

Woodland Healthcare, a Tradition of Excellence

Since opening our doors in 1967, Woodland Healthcare Foundation has partnered with wonderful friends like you to strengthen healthcare in our region.

Today, through your individual acts of generosity, you help our hospital and clinics maintain a margin of excellence and provide equipment and programs to enhance healthcare for our community.

You are truly transforming lives with your gifts to the Area of Greatest Need, which recently helped provide:

• A new comprehensive screening device for hearing tests in the Audiology Department, which provides flexibility and reliability for full diagnostic evaluations for patients of all ages. A replacement of an earlier version in use, this instrument will shorten the wait time for appointments and diagnosis, which will lead to patients getting a treatment plan and care sooner.

• A 3D Mammography Scanner for Woodland Clinic, located across the street from the Hospital. Its central location will offer greater convenience and access, allowing our providers to meet the needs of their patients and advance early detection of breast cancer and patient care.

• Retinal exam equipment, which supports care for diabetic patients. Tests using this equipment produce clear images that help our ophthalmologists diagnose and treat our patients.

• An ultrasound device, which allows physicians to perform targeted, precise biopsies; increases diagnostic accuracy; and quickly delivers enhanced, high resolution images for patients in the Urology Department.

• A microscope for cataract surgeries, which offers excellent light, focus, and magnification. Ophthalmology patients will benefit from its precision and innovative technology.

• Orthopedic drills for total joint or hip fracture repairs. This advanced equipment with improved ergonomics helps patients get on the road to recovery and activity more quickly.

Thank you for your generous support to enhance healthcare in our community.

Your Generosity in Action

Thanks to generous support for our Strengthening Our Roots initiative from community and employee donors like you, Woodland Healthcare patients are benefitting from vital new equipment throughout our hospital and clinics, including the most recent additions to the following departments:

Medical Surgical Department

A bladder scanner, which is an important tool that helps staff quickly and easily assess a patient’s condition, avoid unnecessary patient catheterization, and reduce the risk of infection. Prior to acquiring this scanner, one unit was shared across two floors and having this new scanner in close proximity has greatly enhanced patient care.

Family Birth Center

Six new couches are providing comfortable seating for visitors and easily convert to a single bed for a support person staying overnight.

New delivery room lights and a blanket warmer will offer additional comfort for laboring mothers.

Also, a new bilimeter allows caregivers to monitor newborn bilirubin levels in a non-invasive fashion, providing reliable visual and digital measurements and reducing stress and discomfort for babies. From their very first moments, we’re making sure our newest patients receive safe, comfortable, and high-quality care.

Thank you for making a difference in our community!

Has your life been touched by a Woodland Healthcare Guardian Angel?

Has a doctor, nurse, staff member, or volunteer provided special care that made an impact during your visit? In appreciation of extraordinary humankindness, many patients ask how they can express their gratitude for the care they have received. The Guardian Angel program provides grateful patients and their loved ones an opportunity to thank caregivers and other Woodland Healthcare staff who have made a difference in their lives.

To learn more, call (530) 669-5680 or visit supportwoodlandhealthcare.org/ways-to-give/guardian-angel-program

Partners in Philanthropy

Caring for Our Community

Spend just a few minutes in the wonderful company of Dr. Michael Pirruccello and you’ll be filled with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for his leadership in our community, caring for us with kindness and dedication. His fondness for Woodland and his decades of professional and personal commitment to helping others is immediately apparent, and we’re delighted that Dr. Pirruccello is contributing his energy and sharing his experience as the current Chair of Woodland Healthcare Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

A family physician in Woodland for nearly 40 years, Dr. Pirruccello retired from his full-time medical practice at Dignity Health five years ago, but that has not kept him idle in the slightest. Dr. Pirruccello always planned to keep contributing as a physician, and works as-needed at the Urgent Care Clinic, mentoring and training physicians and advanced practice clinicians and continuing to serve patients with excellence and compassion. Describing the joy of his work, he says, “Helping patients throughout their lifetimes, and then caring for their children, and even grandchildren, has been a real pleasure. One of the nicest things about my role now is seeing former patients when they come in. It’s special to see folks that you have worked with for so long.”

At the recommendation of his friend and current Woodland Healthcare Foundation Board Treasurer Mark Ullrich, Dr. Pirruccello joined the Board over ten years ago. “The Foundation does a great job with helping and supporting the clinics and the hospital,” he says. “Technology is changing very rapidly, and new equipment and programs are

needed. It’s so important to have the best care available locally, and to not face the stress of travel to Sacramento, or even further to San Francisco.”

As the 2022-2023 Board of Trustees Chair, Dr. Pirruccello brings a breadth of healthcare experience and perspective, provides important volunteer leadership, and supports the mission and vision of Woodland Healthcare Foundation. (For a list of all the community leaders serving on our Board, please see their names and roles on the back page.)

Like so many, he affectionately describes Woodland as a very family-oriented community. “My wife Carole and I raised our three children here, and we’re very happy. Even now, it’s still a nice small town where we can pretty much walk anywhere or ride bicycles. Everything is close and convenient.”

In addition to his work at the Urgent Care Clinic, Dr. Pirruccello and his wife frequently enjoy bike trips in U.S. National Parks and Europe, and for their next adventure will travel with a

Meet Our Chair of the Board of Trustees

group of 17 Woodland friends to the Dolomite Mountains in northeastern Italy next June.

Dr. Pirruccello’s greatest interest, however, is being a devoted and involved grandfather of five. His joy, dedication and commitment to them–age 13, ten, seven, six and three–is evident as he helps out with school drop offs and pickups, frequent babysitting,

and even weekly volunteering in their elementary school classrooms. “When I retired, the priority was to really be available to my grandchildren.

The time with them is a blessing–I really enjoy being with the kids and,” he admits with a smile, “spoiling them.”

Dr. Pirruccello, it is our great pleasure to have you as our Chair, where you continue

to lend your experience and insight to enhance patient care at Woodland Memorial Hospital and Woodland Clinic.

Thank you for your warmth and kindness, and for your long history of care for our community.

Woodland Healthcare Foundation Celebrates World Gratitude Day

September 21 marked World Gratitude Day and Woodland Healthcare Foundation received many grateful patient gifts that honored providers and staff members for going above and beyond in their care for them. Below are a few of the heartfelt messages that accompanied their gifts:

“Our three children were born in your hospital and our family members have been patients, gladly, for many years and with several doctors. Thank you!”

—in recognition of all the clinicians of Woodland Clinic Medical Group

“Thank you so much to two of the most caring and knowledgeable health providers I have ever had!”

—in recognition of caregiver Dr. Thomas Ormiston and Patricia Rasmussen, LVN

“Thank you for being such a caring doctor! Though we drive a long distance, it is worth it!”

—in recognition of Dr. Minzi Chen

“Thank you for the great care you give my husband. He loves you all, and you are the best.”

—in recognition of the Oncology Department staff

1321 Cottonwood Street, Suite 207 Woodland, CA 95695 supportwoodlandhealthcare.org 530.669.5680 (o) 530.669.5689 (f)

Officers

Michael Pirruccello, MD, Chair

Eric Sharp, Secretary Marcus Ullrich, Treasurer

Non Profit US Postage Paid Sacramento, CA Permit #604

Board of Trustees

Natasha Bir, MD

Gena Bravo, MSN, RN, HACP

Kevin Duggan

Peter Fayé, IV

Vicki Fayé

Ernest Hodges

Julie Johnson

Roger Kohlmeier

Marianne MacDonald

Dennis Miller

Aaron Schmoekel

Thomas Schwarzgruber

Christina Stokke, RN

Kevin Haarberg, Vice Chair Use

Philanthropy Team

Kevin Duggan, Vice President of Philanthropy

Kendra Martin, Manager of Philanthropy

Kevin Sanchez, Chief Philanthropy Officer

Jenine Ramirez, Administrative Coordinator

Questions or comments about this newsletter? We welcome your feedback. Contact us at woodlandhealthcarefoundation@ dignityhealth.org or (530) 669-5680 to share your comments or sign up for an electronic version of Honoring Philanthropy.

Woodland Healthcare Foundation