Medina Lions Club presents gift cards to local healthcare workers
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Medina Lions Club presented Tops gift cards for the staff at Orleans Community Health’s medical center in Albion on Wednesday. Wearing masks for safety, Lions president Billy Roman, left, presented the cards to Bryan Yoakum, ambulatory patient representative, and Nicole Helson, practice manager. Lions Club member Jim Hancock is at right.
Billy Roman, president of Medina Lions Club, presents a stack of Tops gift cards to Laurie Joslyn, director of Orleans Community Health’s dialysis center in Medina. Joslyn will distribute them to staff at the dialysis center.
MEDINA – Employees of Orleans Community Health who work off-campus from the hospital were recognized for their service this week by Medina Lions Club.
Billy Roman, president of the Medina Lions, said the club wanted to do something for the healthcare workers who are so necessary and dedicated, especially in this time of uncertainly created by the coronavirus pandemic.
The club voted to donate Tops gift cards to deserving members of the community, and contacted Cindy Perry, director of outreach, education and marketing at Community Partners, to ask who they would recommend to receive the gift cards.
Perry asked hospital CEO Mark Cye, who suggested they recognize those healthcare employees who work off-site, in the dialysis unit in Medina and the medical care facility in Albion.
Those people don’t necessarily get the credit they deserve, Cye said.
The Lions will also donate 20 gift cards to the Medina Senior Center, to be distributed to deserving senior citizens.
The Lions Club purchased a total of 42 gift cards, valued at $25 each, and Julie Roman, Billy’s wife and the daughter of Lions member Jim Hancock, created notes to accompany each one.
On Tuesday, seven cards were presented to Laurie Josyln, director of the Dialysis Unit, who plans to distribute them to the staff there.
“This is very much appreciated,” Joslyn said. “We have talked about what we want to do with them, and will probably get together when this pandemic is all over and have food and share some down time.”
She said the pandemic situation has created a hardship for staff and patients who come there.
“We are all wearing masks, so the patients can’t visit and socialize like they used to,” Joslyn said.
The Dialysis Unit serves 40 patients, who each come for treatment twice a week.
On Tuesday at the medical center at the corner of Route 31 and Butts Road in Albion, Roman and Hancock presented 15 Tops gift cards to Nicole Helson, practice manager, and Bryan Yoakum, ambulatory patient representative.
“This is very generous and thoughtful of the Lions to think of us here, and we certainly appreciate it,” Helson said.
Julie Roman, wife of Medina Lions president Billy Roman, created these notes to go along with Tops gift cards, which the Lions donated to staff at Orleans Community Health’s dialysis center in Medina and the healthcare facility in Albion. Donations of gift cards will also be made later to the Medina Senior Center.
