Volunteer group has played vital role in origin, growth of Boca Regional Hospital
BOCA RATON – It was in April of 1962 that Debra Ann and James Randall Drummond, children of well-known Boca Raton residents Gloria and Robert Drummond, died after being accidentally poisoned by a neighbor’s child.
With no hospital in Boca Raton at that time, the Drummond’s tragedy spurred a groundswell of concern by local residents for creation of a medical facility in the rapidly growing city.
In September 1962, 351 civic-minded residents gathered to charter an organization whose mission would be to raise funds for the hospital and subsequently serve as the institution’s volunteer arm.
Out of devastating personal loss and pressing community need, the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League was created. And so, too, were the fundraising seeds sown that would eventually result in the creation of what is now known as Boca Raton Regional Hospital. It opened its doors as Boca Raton Community Hospital in 1967.
September of 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League, an organization which has contributed more than $30 million to the hospital during the last half-century.
“From very humble beginnings, the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League has grown into a critically important component of Boca Regional,” said Debbie Leising, current president of the D-RMSL. “The contributions we have made financially and through volunteer support of the daily operations of the hospital have played a significant role not only in the building of the institution but also in its evolution to a preeminent, regional referral medical center.”
With a current active roster of nearly 1,200 individuals, the D-RMSL constitutes one of the largest hospital-based volunteer organizations in the nation. In the past five decades, League volunteers have given nearly eight million hours of service to the Hospital and the patients it serves.
The League maintains a host of initiatives, such as its well-known Thrift Shop and the Hospital Gift shop, which generate funds to support Boca Regional.
The League also coordinates all volunteer services. Men, women and teenage volunteers are assigned to more than 60 areas such as patient units, waiting and treatment areas and emergency department.
“In my 25 years as a healthcare executive, I have never witnessed such a robust and productive volunteer program,” said Jerry Fedele, president and CEO of Boca Regional. “The Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League is one of the most distinguishing facets of our Hospital and a shining example of the material difference volunteerism can make in so many ways.”