A $200,000 bequest from former Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital Auxiliary president Ruth Mix brought the POMH Foundation’s campaign for its new CT scanner to within $50,000 of its goal.
The POMH Foundation committed to raising $1.2 million for a CT scanner and an expanded radiology area at Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital over five years, beginning in August 2002. Now, two and a half years later, the funds are in hand in half that time. Adding to many private donations was a $100,000 gift given by the POMH Auxiliary and $8,300 raised by hospital employees.
A state-of-the-art Toshiba Aquilion Multislice Helical CT scanner was installed in July 2004 and to date has served 370 patients, with 572 scans performed.
Ruth Mix was a special friend of Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital for years, accumulating a record number of volunteer hours. A native Kentuckian who learned to live with Michigan winters when she moved to Battle Creek during World War II, Ruth accompanied her third husband, Albert Mix, to Frankfort in 1976. Albert planned to ice fish on Crystal Lake, but Ruth found she preferred flowers to fishing. One of her early contributions to the hospital was “Ruth’s Rose Garden,” which won national recognition from the American Hospital Association’s Volunteer Excellence program. Ruth also became an active gift shop volunteer.
In recent years she kept the hospital gift shop open on Saturdays in addition to being the “flower lady” who supplied fresh plants and flowers to sell all week long. Ruth served as auxiliary president from 1988 to 1990.
Ruth was active in many causes in Benzie County. However, as her bequest to the Paul Oliver Foundation indicates, she felt closest to the hospital’s caring staff and lively auxiliary. In a 1988 auxiliary newsletter Ruth wrote, “Try to get a new auxiliary member, even by giving a membership to a friend. Each volunteer, whether giving one hour per year or many hours each week, is important. Volunteers are the back-bone of the hospital.”
Through her service and generous bequest, Ruth Mix continues to be a backbone of Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital.
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