Patient Stories

Grant in Action: Innovative technology enhances skills of current and future medical professionals

Grant-funded equipment will used in learning activities for exams and procedures

For Jonathan dela Cruz, MD, the addition of eight Butterfly iQ ultrasound probes to the surgical skills lab at the Memorial Center for Learning and Innovation allows medical professionals to experience cutting-edge medicine.

Amy Wyant

Small acts of kindness make a big difference

Small acts of kindness – a friendly smile, an offer of something to drink, the feel of a comforting hand on her shoulder – are of such importance in Amy Wyant’s life, she becomes nearly breathless as she describes her experience as a patient at Taylorville Memorial Hospital, where she finds these tender gestures in casual abundance.

Katie McCarty

Katie McCarty Nursing Excellence Fund

As a 19-year-old, Katelyn McCarty had a big dream for the future. She would finish college and earn a nursing degree, while her mom, Pam, would go to business school. When they both graduated, they would use their new skills to open a care community for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Grant in Action: New equipment benefits researchers

Technology improves thanks to donors

Healthcare is continually evolving thanks to technology. And because of a $10,790 grant to the research lab in the Institute for Plastic Surgery at SIU Medicine, two new incubators with the latest features are being utilized.

Grant in Action: Patient Simulation Teaches Future Nurses

Donors advance learning at MacMurray College

Nursing students at MacMurray College are benefitting from patient simulation technology thanks to an $81,000 grant from the MMC Foundation.

Mark Bridges

Compassionate Care Helps Area Man Cope with Chronic Pain

After a factory accident more than twenty years ago and the debilitating back pain that followed, Mark Bridges became more dependent than he wanted on a cycle of prescription pain medication.

Glenn Gill

Home Health Services Returns Lincoln’s Glenn Gill Back to His Life

Born with spina bifida, Glenn Gill has gone through between 20 and 30 surgeries throughout his 37 years of life. In adulthood, he developed diabetes

Bonny Sexton

Memorial’s Transplant Program Gives Bonny Sexton a New Normal

Bonny Sexton, 49, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) when she was 19 years old. A common genetic disease, the key to controlling the disease’s progression is controlling the high blood pressure that comes with it.

Grant in Action: Dancing to improve health

People with Parkinson’s disease benefit from donor generosity

Since July 2016, Eve Fischberg, a licensed occupational therapist, has been offering dance classes to people in the community who have Parkinson’s disease. A $2,400 grant from Memorial Medical Center Foundation is making a 12-week class offered four times throughout the year possible.

Grant in Action: Healthy lessons at Camp Care-A-Lot

Donations benefit children in our community

Nearly 50 children who attended Camp Care-A-Lot, a program of Compass for Kids, enjoyed healthy meals and snacks thanks to a $5,758 grant from Memorial Medical Center Foundation.