2021 Nutcracker Ball fundraiser helped pay for new $250K ambulance

By Marty Cheek

Nearly three years after the county took over management of St. Louise Regional Hospital, the medical facility is thriving. And dedicated volunteers with the Friends of St. Louise group play a huge role in the success of improving the hospital’s health care given to South Valley locals.

The Friends play an important role in raising money specifically targeted to improve patient service at the Gilroy-based hospital, said Glenda Garcia, the chair of the Friends’ Advisory Board.

The nonprofit group had to restructure itself under the umbrella of Valley Medical Center after Santa Clara County took ownership in early 2019. St. Louise Regional and O’Connor hospitals and Morgan Hill’s De Paul Medical Center were sold to the county for their assessed value of $235 million after the previous owner filed for bankruptcy.

“Valley Medical — what they’ve done for St. Louise is unbelievable,” Garcia said, describing how the county worked to make the local hospital more effective. “Within six months, our hospital was on the big computer program, which is also used by Stanford and Kaiser. Our doctors and nurses had to learn to use it — and everyone swears by it.”

St. Louise Regional Hospital serves a local population of more than 100,000 residents. The purchase in 2019 added the 93 beds at St. Louise and the 358 beds at O’Connor to the 563 beds operated by the county at its acute care hospital Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

The Friends’ fundraising endeavors include a holiday gala called The Nutcracker Ball held at Guglielmo Winery. This year’s event took place Dec. 3. In 2021, the group raised money to purchase a $250,000 new ambulance. This year’s fundraising will go to purchase a brainwave machine for St. Louise’s intensive care unit and a bone density machine for the hospital’s cancer center.

“Every dime goes to St. Louise,” Garcia said. “Even though we’re under the parent of Valley Medical Center, everything goes to St. Louise.”

Starting with the pandemic, the Friends began a new tradition of spending funds to build a Winter Wonderland under a big tent outside the hospital’s entrance. The holiday hideaway is for health employees who need to take a break from job stresses. Decorations including live and artificial holiday trees, comfortable benches and chairs and a few dozen Christmas wreaths help keep the tone festive for the workers.

St. Louise Regional Hospital is an essential healthcare facility serving the South Valley region, and so the Friends volunteers make a difference in ensuring the facility keeps up a high quality of service, said Julie Surjan, chief events and marketing officer for the Valley Medical Center Foundation.

The high-level of patient care was spotlighted in summer when the ICU ward’s hardworking team at St. Louise was ranked No. 2 in the nation by receiving the Silver Beacon Award by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

“We know there is so much that still needs to be done to transform it into a full service, level three trauma center, and the best ‘small town’ hospital in America,” Surjan said. “It takes all of us, which is why the support of the community and Friends of St. Louise is so important.”

The Friends of St. Louise help to identify, respond, and meet these South Valley health care needs, she said.

By inspiring community members in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Martin and beyond, the volunteers enable the VMC Foundation to strategically support St. Louise Regional Hospital, she said.

“Working with the volunteers of the Friends of St. Louise is such a joy,” she said. “The community response in South County has been extraordinary. The love and admiration for St. Louise Regional Hospital and its staff is evident. We are so lucky to have such a dedicated group of volunteers working to make our hospital stronger and successful.”