Small Donations Make a Big Difference

CVPH Employee Opens Up on Why She Gives to The Foundation

Working at the same place for nearly three decades means you’re going to see a lot and know a lot of people.

“I consider a lot of the CVPHers my friends and family,” Quality Support Specialist Laurie Cross, CPHRM said. “Some of them are my family by blood. My mom, my grandmother, a lot of people I know have retired from here.”

Cross, a mother of 2 and a grandmother of 1, has been at CVPH for a lot of joyful moments. And there have been some scary situations.

One of her friends delivered a baby that had medical issues discovered immediately after birth. The baby had to be transferred to UVM Medical Center. Instead of spending the night at the hospital with his wife and thinking about all of the new firsts they would share with their newborn, the new father had to rush across the lake to be with the child in Burlington.

“And he said the thing he remembers the most, as silly as it might sound to some people, is the little stick of deodorant that was in that travel bag provided by The Foundation,” Cross recalled. “Because it was just, from the delivery room, he was in a car and he was gone to meet that baby in Vermont. He didn’t have time to get those things. That probably sounds silly to some folks. But when you’re the one that’s faced with that, that little stick of deodorant makes an impact. I think that’s huge.”

Cross noted that she has other personal friends and family members who have had to utilize funds provided by the Foundation of CVPH in emergency situations.

“I see what an impact that makes and what a benefit that is for people in a time of crisis,” she noted. “Let’s face it, you’re not always able to plan for those emergencies and be ready to go, and to have those funds accessible means a lot.”

The Foundation relies on the generosity of donors to support patients and their families, hospital employees and the community in numerous ways. The Janice McLean Employee Assistance Fund is one way The Foundation is able to help employees by providing interest free loans to hospital workers who are enduring a financial hardship. It also raises money to benefit the next generation with purchases like new bassinets for our youngest patients welcomed to the world in the Alice T. Miner Women and Children’s Center. And donors help back health and safety initiatives in the region, including a partnership with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office that helps provide families in need with car seats for young children. To learn more about how you can be part of the great work of The Foundation by making a donation, click here.

Donating $1 per pay period adds up to $26 per year. CVPH Associate Vice President of Philanthropy Kerry Haley noted if every CVPH employee were to do that, The Foundation would receive more than $60,000 to invest right back into our patients, our peers and our community.

Hundreds of people in the CVPH family have already joined the cause, and Cross believes that says a lot about the kind of people she works with.

“I think it proves we’re a very caring organization,” Cross said. “We care not only for our patients, but we care for each other. And I think just caring for each other and supporting each other builds a whole bridge for that camaraderie and teamwork and that family feel.”

Employees can join the cause by donating online, filling out an I Give pledge card and turning it in to The Foundation office at 75 Beekman Street in Plattsburgh, dropping the pledge card in interoffice mail to The Foundation of CVPH or scanning the filled out card and emailing it to kkalman@cvph.org