PORT ANGELES — Donations to the Olympic Medical Center Foundation will plump up both the OMC Pediatrics Clinic and a scholarship program that not only helps area students further their medical careers but also adds homegrown staff to the local hospital.
Bruce Skinner, executive director of the OMC Foundation, announced donations totaling $181,316.34 to the OMC commissioners Wednesday night. The OMC Pediatrics Clinic is receiving $31,316.34 while the George and Barbara Brown Scholarship Fund, which already has issued scholarships to 45 students, is getting an additional $150,000.
Donors George Brown and Margery Whites, both of Sequim, shared a meal with 14 of the most recent 31 scholarship recipients before they and the students were introduced at the hospital commissioners’ meeting.
Brown is giving $100,000 for the scholarship fund shortly as part of his pledge of $500,000. He already has given $300,000 to the fund.
Brown is a longtime supporter of the hospital. During the capital campaign for the expansion of the OMC Cancer Center in Sequim, for which ground was broken in 2019, Brown contributed the $300,000 donation that was needed for the campaign to reach its $1 million goal.
The most recent major donor is Whites, who provided $50,000 to the scholarship fund.
Whites moved to the area from Minnesota with her husband, Larry Roth, after they both retired. She had worked as a language and speech pathologist.
Both Brown and Whites give in memory of their deceased spouses, both saying that OMC provided their loved ones with excellent care.
“We need to continue to provide quality care,” Whites said.
Skinner told commissioners that the scholarship was CEO Darryl Wolfe’s idea.
Skinner said: “For the first 33 years here, I met with the CEO and be told that a piece of equipment was needed,” and so fundraising efforts went to that.
Then he met with Wolfe, who said “the biggest need was workforce development,” Skinner said.
That gave birth to the scholarship fund, now in its second year. It provides funding not only for tuition, books and fees but also for living expenses, an aspect especially appreciated by students. Many are raising or have raised children, and some work two or three jobs to care for their families. The stipend for living expenses allows them to cut work hours and focus on their studies.
Most, but not all, receive funds to attend Peninsula College, and all will be considered for employment at OMC.
Scholarship recipients thanked the foundation and the donors for making their dreams possible.
“I started 10 to 12 years ago, started trying to become a nurse,” Devanee Cipriano, who raised her children while working as a medical assistant, said at the meal before Wednesday’s meeting. “I was not sure how to make that happen” until the scholarship funded her studies.
Said Kayla Keller, speaking before the commissioners: “I can’t wait to be at OMC and give back to the community to show thanks for everything you have put into us.”
Present medical personnel at OMC, such as Stacia Kiesser and Elizabeth Wood, are using the scholarship for continuing education, some working on master’s and doctorates with plans to return to OMC with more specialized knowledge.
Also at the commissioners’ meeting were Joshua Bolton, IrieAna Brown, Simon Close, Lara Eash, Karissa Hayter, Alexanda Parrill, Devon Scribner, Sharon Senner, Tila Stackhouse and Elizabeth Wood.
Commissioners also presented Skinner with a pen set to recognize his recent lifetime achievement award from the Washington Festivals and Events Association.
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Leah Leach is a former executive editor for Peninsula Daily News.
