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The theme of this year's fundraising gala presented by the Ohio Valley Health Center was "Hats off to the OVHC."
Held April 30 at the St. Florian Event Center in Wintersville, the timing was perfect -- less than a week before the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby. That brought out hundreds of different hats on women and men, bow ties and other forms of dress associated with the Run for the Roses at Louisville's Churchill Downs.
While it offered the chance to relax and enjoy an evening out, there was a serious purpose behind the dinner - it is the single biggest fundraising event for the health center, which serves uninsured and underserved area residents.
"The race that the Ohio Valley Health Center is running is to provide high-quality health care to those residents of the Ohio Valley, regardless of their ability to pay," said Ann Quillen, the center's executive director.
"The care we provide at the health center isn't a sprint, but it is a race -- it's a race against time, time to get people the care and the help they need, and we continually strive to win that race," she added.
That work, she explained, is accomplished through the efforts of, as she described it, a "small, but mighty, dedicated staff."
Among the center's other strong points, she added, were its longtime medical director, Dr. Charn Nandra, and its highly skilled nurse practitioners and nurses who volunteer weekly with dignity and respect; and its referral system, which can put its patients in contact with specialists from around the Tri-State Area who are willing to step in to help when needed.
Quillen added that the center is a good training ground for nurse practitioners, students who are working to become registered and licensed practical nurses and those training to become social workers."
We're a strong learning ground," she said.
All of that effort continues to pay off -- last year, Quillen detailed, the center saw 342 individual patients (a 32 percent increase from 2021) and had 2,043 patient visits (which was a 69 percent increase over 2021.) The center also was able to fill 3,175 prescriptions for free medications, worth $372,333.
When you add all of that up, it works out to more than $713,000 in free care -- and more than $55,000 in free lab services, she said.
That's care that makes a real difference in the lives of area residents.
"I could share story after story about patients and how their lives were positively changed, and some even saved, because they were a patient at the health center," Quillen added.
The story of one of those patients, Dorian Livingston of Steubenville, was shared in a powerful video presentation. Livingtson faced complex health issues after a pocket of infection was discovered in his brain. Thanks to the efforts of the health center staff, he is in the process of recovery.
"The Ohio Valley Health Center is the place where Dorian and so many others have experienced hope, health and healing," Quillen said.
That's been the mission of the health center since it was founded in 2006, and one that Quillen said will certainly be tested in the coming months and years,
"During the COVID pandemic, Medicare coverage was expanded across Ohio and the country, a true necessity for that time," Quillen said. "But now, with the unwinding of that expanded Medicare, between 5 million and 14 million people across the country will lose their medical coverage. It is predicted that more than 200,000 Ohioans will lose their coverage during the next nine months.
"Because of that, we could expect to see as much as a 20 percent increase in those who need our services here in the Ohio Valley -- that's one of the reasons that we need your help."
The health center has been through a lot during the last 17 years -- it's seen three locations -- along North Fourth Street in downtown Steubenville, in Trinity Medical Center East and its current building at 423 South St. It's seen a name change -- it originally was the Fourth Street Health Center.
But thanks to the continued efforts of donors and volunteers, the mission continues to be met.
"The Ohio Valley Health Center is a sure bet -- a sure bet that we will use these funds from tonight to increase our services, expand our team of volunteers and provide event more care for more people."
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Among those recognized during the evening was Janice Kiaski, the now-retired community editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.
The gala was Kiaski's last event in that post, and she was thanked for all of the coverage she has provided of the center and its work by Suzanne Brown, who along with her husband, Dr. Thomas Brown, are professional mentors to Dr. Kaitlyn Pitchok, who has purchased the Brown's Wintersville dental practice. The three served as chairs of the event.
Kiaski was dressed in keeping with the theme -- she wore a jockey's outfit, a move she explained, that was made partly to ensure that no one would be wearing the same thing she had on, a fashion faux pas that happened several years ago.
"It's been an honor for more than 40 years at the newspaper to write so many stories about so many good things that go on in our communities," Kiaski said. "And, I'm preaching to the choir when I say that the Ohio Valley Health Center is among those. It's a blessing to those it serves and to the center staff and volunteers who make it happen and all of you who are out there supporting it. It's just a great thing for the community."
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)