Beebe Auxiliary donates wheelchairs

From left: Les Levin, Eileen Thompson, Mary Goering, Crystal Megginson, Lynn Thompson, Tayler Vanderwerf, Maddie Corporan, Jalissa Jones, Linda Yekenchik and Wendell Alfred, representing the Beebe Auxiliary and Emergency Department, show off the new chairs.

The Beebe Medical Center Auxiliary has donated eight new wheelchairs to Beebe Healthcare for patients in the Emergency Department and at Beebe Wound Care Services. The heavy-duty medical transport chairs are safe and specially designed for patients in hospital setting. The auxiliary purchased the chairs for $9,336. The chairs represent the second gift the Auxiliary has given to Beebe in 2015. The first was its annual gift in May of $275,000 that is earmarked toward the purchase of a navigational bronchoscopy system, an advanced technology that can locate lesions in the far reaches of the lungs where they often go undiagnosed in early stage lung cancer. Over the past seven years, the auxiliary has raised more than $2.7 million in support of various Beebe services and building programs. The auxiliary, founded in 1936, is the oldest fundraising organization supporting Beebe Healthcare. It raises funds through sales at the Hospital Gift Shop, at Beebe’s Treasure Chest Thrift Shop located in the Midway Shopping Center on Route 1, and from its craft group and various employee sales events. “These chairs will make the transporting of patients within the Emergency Department easier and safer,” said Wendell Alfred, auxiliary president.