In Good Company - A publication of Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers
Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1374862
16 strengthen the Core Gifts from the Heart Our Mission calls us to be expressions of God 's healing love and to remain steadfast in serving all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Grounded in our Mission, our ministries have a long tradition of giving back to our community. In addition to being part of our mission statement, it is an operational tenet of our ministries at San Pedro and Torrance. For nearly 40 years, Providence Little Company of Mar y has participated in Gifts from the Heart, a program that identifies families in our community who are less fortunate and allows departments within our ministries to 'adopt ' these families for Christmas to provide necessities as well as fulfill special wishes. In 2020, because of the pandemic, many lost jobs, homes, businesses, and health insurance. Some people have been out of work due to illness, furlough, or the loss of loved ones. And, it 's not just our community that was impacted – it was our own family of caregivers as well. Thus, when we launched the Gifts from the Heart program this year, we decided to expand it to include our own caregivers in need. Our caregivers, who adopted families in need, responded with open hearts. We ended up with a total of 54 families that our program supported; 20 caregiver families, 11 families from our Community Benefit/Welcome Baby program, and 22 families nominated by the Salvation Army. Our Center for Health Education was packed with hundreds of gifts that included, vacuums, microwaves, bikes, and food. Walking into the room brought you an overwhelming sense of joy. And, while you didn't see the faces of one family with two young boys who received bikes, their squeals of joy could definitely be heard. A "Secret Santa" provided additional gifts, and our medical staff donated $150 food gift cards for each family, $50 Amazon gift cards from a hospital volunteer, and each family received a box of food, detergent, and other necessities coordinated by our Dietar y Services department. Many thanks to Marlene Young, from our Foundation, for all her work in helping us coordinate this amazing event. Supporting our Caregivers Behavioral Health Concierge Behavioral Health Concierge is a new service under the Caregiver Assistance Program that provides caregivers and their household members' confidential same-day or next-day access to licensed mental health professionals by video or phone. Services offered include consultation, counseling and care navigation. To access these services, go to the HR portal on the Providence Home Page and select Caregiver Assistance Program. The room was overflowing with boxes and gifts for the families.