 February 08, 2010
This year the directors, officers
and employees of First Bank presented not only the third annual
$20,000 donation, but also an additional $10,950 contributed
by First Bank employees and matched by their Board for the 2010
Gift of Healing campaign.  Photo courtesy KGH
This year's Gift of Healing project is a Minimally Invasive Surgical Suite. The project goal is $237,141, which will be used for equipment including several scopes, a monitor and an operating room table. Minimally invasive surgery is performed through small incisions through which a tiny camera and other instruments are inserted. The camera provides images to the monitor, which guides the surgeon. The new technology will provide superior diagnostic clarity that will improve the detection, diagnosis, and prognosis for some cancers and other diseases. It will reduce the need for more invasive surgeries in some cases and increase the range of services that can be provided locally. First Bank was an early partner in supporting the Foundation. In 2006, Bob St Clair, former First Bank Vice President/Manager of Electronic Banking, now retired, was one of the founding directors of the Foundation's Board. Through his employment with First Bank, he arranged for a few of the Foundation Board members to speak to First Bank's Board about the need for a Women's Diagnostic Imaging Suite, the first major Foundation project. That year First Bank gave almost $6,000 to the Foundation. "Being a partner with the Foundation is good community sense. Contributions to the Foundation help Ketchikan General Hospital provide the services needed to sustain our communities in southern Southeast Alaska," said Sheila Kleinschmidt, Assistant Vice President Community Relations, at First Bank who also serves on the Foundation Board. The next year, the First Bank Board decided to match First Bank's directors', officers', and employees' donations dollar for dollar. It was that year, 2007 that the Foundation's Endowment Campaign kicked off. First Bank gave almost $12,000. In December of 2007, the First Bank Board of Directors authorized the five-year pledge of $100,000 to be paid in $20,000 increments. The first $20,000 was paid to the Foundation in 2008. The additional employee contribution and match added another $8,600 to the Gift of Healing campaign. First Bank also provided an in-kind donation of office space in their 2030 Sea Level Building. Last year along with the $20,000 to the Endowment campaign, the employee match program added over $9,500 to the Gift of Healing and another $ 14,757 was donated as in-kind and unrestricted donations. Ketchikan General Hospital is part of PeaceHealth, a Bellevue, WA-based not-for-profit health care system with medical centers and clinics in Alaska, Washington and Oregon that serves more than 57,000 patients annually. Sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, Ketchikan General Hospital has provided care to residents of Southeast Alaska since 1923.
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