Spring 2008 - Memorial Hospital of South Bend

important as the programs themselves. All programs
would be built on a broad framework that could be
duplicated by any hospital.
“Our learning has stimulated a level of connectivity
in our community that I know wasn’t here in 1992,”
says Memorial Health Foundation Vice President
Reg Wagle. “That’s the most important thing that
tithing has accomplished here at home.”
GREAT IDEAS ATTRACT GREAT RESOURCES
Believing in the incredible resources of our community,
Memorial feels that all of the resources it needs to
address certain issues (education, drug addiction, teen
pregnancy), are, for the most part, already here in our
community, and that if you choose the right partners,
all kinds of incredible things can happen.
A TIME
“If I had to sum up one thing that makes me feel most
strongly about tithing, it’s how it has helped outside
community organizations seek new solutions to old
problems,” says Rose Meissner, president of the
Community Foundation of St. Joseph County and former
Health Foundation board member. “Memorial was there
for the Community Foundation as we were forming. It
was a place we could turn as we launched new initiatives.”
EVERYTHING HAS A PURPOSE
Having been through various Memorial sponsored
programs, Milon is familiar with the St. Joseph
County Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) program
(Memorial has served as its manager and primary
sponsor for 17 years), the Women’s Care Center (cosponsored
by Memorial Hospital) and Beds & Britches,
Etc. (B.A.B.E.), where she received diapers, clothes
and the formula she needed for her baby after
returning to work.
“Memorial understands that through these programs,
they’re investing in and building healthy communities,”
says Milon. “If it were not for some of the services
provided to me, my son may not have had the
opportunity to choose to attend law school later on
in life.”
SPREADING THE WORD
Along with volunteering at her church, traveling to
local high schools to educate young people about
sickle cell disease, providing referrals and helping
applicants navigate through complex services, Milon
also took the time to speak at one of Memorial’s most
recent Community Plunges ® .
“One of the things Memorial is most well known for
across the country are community plunges,” says former
Vice President of Community Affairs Carl Ellison.
Developed and supported by Memorial Health System
through Margo DeMont, Executive Director of
Memorial’s Community Health Enhancement,
community plunges bring together community leaders
to discuss various topics. These events have helped
shape the way Memorial’s leaders think. “You get a
school principal next to a police chief, next to a doctor,
next to a mayor, and you really get to know what’s
going on in a particular community,” says DeMont.
At a recent plunge focusing on predatory lending,
Milon courageously shared her story of a lending
broker who approached her about an investment.
She invested her money into a real estate venture
that would provide low-income families with quality,
affordable housing.
“As time went on I got more and more letters from the
mortgage company, asking where their money was.
Once I realized that he had taken the money, I decided
that the best way was to sell these homes and break
even. That’s when I discovered that the loans I took out
exceeded what the homes were worth,” says Milon.
“That was a very disappointing time in my life. These
families couldn’t stay there as their houses had hidden
problems that were too big to fix. They didn’t have any
place to go, and that was just heartbreaking for me,”
says Milon.
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