(EFFINGHAM, IL) –(Effingham Radio)– Recently, the nursing staff on HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital’s Surgical Care floor received a gift from a patient who wanted to express his appreciation to those who cared for him.
In early January, Dan Felland of Effingham had a colectomy at HSHS St. Anthony’s – removal of part of his colon to remove cancerous colon tumors.
He recently returned to the hospital to provide the staff with small birdhouses as a token of his appreciation.
He purchases the unfinished wooden birdhouses from a craft store, then sands and primes them, and paints and details them himself.
Felland is thankful to have been able to have surgery at St. Anthony’s.
As a military veteran, he is part of the Veterans’ Administration (VA) Program.
With the Veteran’s Choice program through the VA, in areas where there is not a VA hospital, veterans can have services at other hospitals approved by the VA Program, of which St. Anthony’s is one of them.
He is grateful that the program allowed him to have his surgery locally at such a fine hospital.
Felland shared why he wanted to gives these birdhouses to the staff.
“Everyone who cared for me was very thoughtful and did what they could to help me recover as quickly as possible. I have known a lot of nurses in my career, and they all have big hearts to do what they do,” he said.
“I wanted to give those who cared for me something that I created, a gift from my heart,” he explained.
The HSHS St. Anthony’s Foundation has a Grateful Patient Program that provides people with another meaningful way to recognize and celebrate the excellence of care patients received from physicians or staff during their stay and treatment at HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital.
The Grateful Patient Program enables individuals and families to support programs and services while recognizing caregivers that have a special connection to them.
For any size donation to the HSHS St. Anthony’s Foundation through the Grateful Patient Program, former patients can recognize hospital staff and physicians as a Guardian Angel.
The Guardian Angel honors and pays tribute to the caregivers who made a difference in their stay at St. Anthony’s.
The caregiver honored receives a letter from the Foundation Chairperson recognizing them as a Guardian Angel, along with a custom-made lapel pin.
For more information about the HSHS St. Anthony’s Foundation Grateful Patient Program, contact Michael Wall, Director of Philanthropy, at 217-347-1854 or by email at michael.wall@hshs.org, or visit St. Anthony’s Web site at stanthonyshospital.org, under “Giving.”
HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital is part of the Southern Illinois Division of Hospital Sisters Health System, which also includes HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon, HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese, HSHS Holy Family Hospital in Greenville, and HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland.