Auxiliary Donates Again to Putnam Hospital Center

Photo: Putnam Hospital Center Auxiliary President Rose McQuade, from left, presents hospital President James Caldas with a $25,000 gift along with volunteers Dottie Lahm and Janet Markey and Putnam Hospital Center Foundation Executive Director Anita Minella/contributed

The Putnam Hospital Center Auxiliary presented the hospital with a major gift this week.

Auxiliary President Rose McQuade delivered a $25,000 check to hospital President James Caldas on Aug. 17. The contribution is the second installment of a $125,000, one-year pledge the auxiliary made in 2015 for the enhancement of the hospital’s Emergency Department.

The project will expand and reconfigure the Emergency Department to improve access and privacy for the public and EMS community.

“We are so appreciative of the auxiliary’s commitment to the hospital,” Caldas said. “The hours they devote to the betterment of our hospital community are priceless.”

Last year, the auxiliary completed a $150,000 pledge also for the Emergency Department project.

The donations come from money raised through the service of volunteers in the hospital gift shop and two thrift shops off site including the Eagle Eye in Brewster and Eagle Eye Too in Mahopac. Dottie Lahm and Janet Markey are among some of the longtime PHC Gift Shop volunteers with more than 17 years of service each. The Putnam Hospital Center Auxiliary shops are staffed solely by volunteers.

The auxiliary was formed in 1963 and has made more than $6.4 million in pledge payments since its inception.