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Memorial team supports Hurricane Katrina relief efforts

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center team members responded generously this month to appeals for personal and pet care items for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Recovery room nurses Cheryl Conti, R.N., and Judy Ferchen, R.N., joined Patient Care Assistant Bob Johnson to spearhead a collection drive that yielded three fully loaded pallets of needed items that were shipped to the Gulf Coast by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. of Mobile, Ala., parent corporation of the Niagara Gazette.

Memorial employees, volunteers and visitors contributed 75 boxes full of toothbrushes, toothpaste, food, shampoo, soap, diapers, baby food, baby formula, socks and children's underwear, along with food and toys for displaced pets. Contributions came from every hospital department with special efforts put forth by employees in Surgery, Staff Development, Medical Records, Stores and Schoellkopf Health Facility's Nursing Home 2.

The pallets were packaged for transport by Tino Stinis and Mike Hardison of the hospital's Stores staff.

"The response to this employee-led appeal was a true reflection of what we're all about," President and CEO Joseph A. Ruffolo said. "I'm extremely proud of the way the Memorial team embraced this grassroots effort."