Buy a Bed Campaign members honoured by RVHS Board of Directors

From left, Chad Hanna, Rik Ganderton, Cheryl Owen, Jay Kaufmann and Dianne Tomarchio.

Cheryl Owen and Dianne Tomarachio were recognized by the Rouge Valley Health System Board of Directors on March 27, 2012, for being champions for the Foundation’s Buy A Bed campaign.

Cheryl, who is the Project Lead for Required Organizational Practices across RVHS and Dianne, who is the Manager of Quality Improvement, have very busy jobs as it is, but have shown excellent leadership and energy and have lead by example in their passion to raise funds.  They were the first staff members to sign up for payroll deduction and then went about ensuring as many other staff as possible were given the opportunity to have their names on a bed. 

They created the Staff Challenge with a “friendly” competition to see who could raise the most. The challenge resulted in lots of emails back and forth, lots of teasing and taunting and almost 70 new staff payroll donors for the campaign. 

Cheryl and Dianne were dedicated enough to spend the entire night in Centenary’s first Bed-a-thon and recruited many other staff to participate.  This event in the Margaret Birch Wing raised enough money to purchase a $5,000 bed all on its own.

Board Chair Jay Kaufmann, with the help of RVHS President & CEO Rik Ganderton and Foundation President & CEO Chad Hanna, presented the award to the two dedicated Buy a Bed Campaign Committee members.

On behalf of the Foundation, thank you both for your work on the Buy a Bed campaign and your commitment to improved patient care at our hospital.