Hazel Hawkins fundraiser honors donors and Auxiliary; raises
money for new emergency room facility
The third annual Hazel Hawkins Foundation dinner-dance and
fundraiser on Nov. 6 raised $190,000.
”
We are very grateful to our sponsors and donors,
”
said Leah Dowty, the Foundation director, in a press
release.
Proceeds from the event are earmarked for the new emergency
room.
Hazel Hawkins fundraiser honors donors and Auxiliary; raises money for new emergency room facility
The third annual Hazel Hawkins Foundation dinner-dance and fundraiser on Nov. 6 raised $190,000.
“We are very grateful to our sponsors and donors,” said Leah Dowty, the Foundation director, in a press release.
Proceeds from the event are earmarked for the new emergency room.
Honorees for the evening included Dr. and Mrs. Martin Bress who were honored as donors of the year and Hazel Hawkins Hospitals Auxiliary was honored as organization of the year.
Donors of the year
During his 36 years as a member of the medical staff, the depth and breadth of Dr. Bress’ influence on the local medical community, Hazel Hawkins Hospital, and San Benito County has been phenomenal, according to Dowty.
Fresh out of medical residency, Martin joined the National Health Services Corp, which places doctors in medically underserved communities. He was sent out to California and chose Hollister from five different rural locations because he saw it as having tremendous potential. He came here in 1973 and is still going strong – working full time and serving the hospital in many capacities.
He was the first doctor at Centro de Salud, which subsequently became the San Benito Health Foundation. In 1973, when he arrived, he found that there were only a handful of general practitioners in Hollister, no specialists, and one traffic light.
There was no intensive care unit, no emergency room doctors, no real emergency room facility and no obstetricians. Rotating with the other doctors, he worked 6 and a half days a week on call for emergencies and his own practice.
The fact the he and his wife Rhoda are here at all is a lesson in fate.
After finishing his two years of service, he returned to Boston in 1975 for just one year, and that’s when he and Rhoda met. They married and moved to Hollister in 1976, where they were both employed by the Hollister Medical Center, a nonprofit community organization that Martin had helped to create and of which Gerald McCullough was the president. Subsequently, Martin went into private practice, continued working on behalf of the larger medical needs of the community, and helped to recruit many other physicians to Hollister including many specialists, family practitioners and emergency room doctors, many of whom have served the bulk of their professional career serving the residents of San Benito County. Rhoda continued to work in the office in multiple capacities during all these years.
In order to help speed the hospital’s progress, he ran for and was elected to serve as a member of the district board of directors from 1976-1985.
Bress helped design the hospital’s first intensive care unit in 1977 and campaigned actively for the bond issue that funded it. The facility has passed the test of time and continues to accommodate patients to this day. He has served as its director off and on for almost thirty years.
In 1997, he helped to establish the San Benito Medical Associates, an independent practice association, which has been of tremendous benefit to local patients and the hospital. He has served as president of this organization for the last eleven consecutive years.
Dr. Bress served as chief of staff in 1988 and 1996. Over the years he has served as chairman of every hospital committee, except Obstetrics and Surgery. He serves as director of the cardiopulmonary department of Hazel Hawkins Hospital.
In 1985, he also helped to design and build the first modern medical complex in Hollister on what was once a turkey farm at the corner Sunnyslope and Memorial.
Because of his interest in cardiovascular medicine, he founded the Hollister Cardiac Rehabilitation Center in 1985, which is probably one of the few accredited centers in a rural town in the state and serves as its medical director.
Organization of the year
Hazel Hawkins’ Auxiliary was also honored as organization of the year. Hazel Hawkins Auxiliary will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2010. Established in 1950, the Auxiliary has grown to 310 members in 2009. The Auxiliary has become an institution not only at HHMH but within the community as well. Since its inception the Auxiliary has made nearly $2 million in contributions to the Hospital, supporting major equipment purchases, programs and building projects.
Aside from their annual events, the Auxiliary generates an impressive amount of revenue from the hospital gift shop and the thrift shop Hazel’s, now located downtown on San Benito Street. This year the thrift shop generated $268,000 in gross revenue while the gift shop brought in $168,000.
Not only was the Auxiliary recognized for its financial support of the hospital but for the many, many volunteer hours they provide assisting staff, patients and visitors.
Thrift store manager Alice Farnham and her husband Richard accepted the award on behalf of the Auxiliary.
