Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital Wins State Award for Partnership with Gorge-Area Schools

June 4, 2009

HOOD RIVER, Ore. – Oregon School Superintendent Susan Castillo today presented the state’s 2009 Outstanding Community/School Partnership Award to Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital for its longstanding support of Hood River County School District programs.

Joining the award presentation with Castillo was a fourth-grade class from May Street Elementary School, Hood River County School District Superintendent Pat Everson-Brady, Providence Hood River Chief Executive Ty Erickson and Providence Community Board Member Terri Vann, a Hood River County School administrator.

Castillo selects one partnership per year in the state for this award and this year, it was awarded to a small community hospital in the Columbia River Gorge. Providence Hood River was singled out for the last 15 years of continuous community support of Hood River County schools, from kindergarten through high school, including $150,000 per year to the school nursing program, annual health career scholarships, school district's after-school program, non profit arts-in-education program, athlete concussion testing, drug- and alcohol-free graduation events, free sports physicals and screening from the Mobile Health Unit, and other projects. In addition, the hospital has funded more than $100,000 per year in free orthodontia and dental care to children in need, working with the school district, the county health department and other community partners.

Participating in today’s ceremony were the May Street Elementary fourth-graders who recently created an arts-in-education project, called “Arrivals,” for the new hospital building that opened in April. The quilt features photos, art, notes and mementos of the kids and other local residents born at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. The students were the stars of today’s ceremony, and visited their completed art project now displayed inside the new Family Birth Center with superintendents Castillo and Everson-Brady.

The Youthful Art of Healing gallery that now adorns the walls of Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital's new 36,000-square-foot expansion delivers a healthy dose of healing art, to reach and inspire hospital visitors and patients alike. With the expertise of 10 local artists, more than 700 students from Columbia River Gorge classrooms in Hood River, Cascade Locks, The Dalles and White Salmon created