By Lawrence Powell
The Spectator
NovaNewsNow.com
There will be music, food, and a special guest Saturday, June 16 at Centennial Park in Middleton, and it's all for a good cause. Serenade in the Park goes from 6:30 to 9 p.m. to help raise funds for Soldiers Memorial Hospital's emergency department.
It's the second year for the event, a partnership between the Rotary Club of Middleton and Soldier's Memorial Health Auxiliary, and this year Pete Luckett will be on hand to talk to the crowd between selections performed by the 17-piece Annapolis Big Band.
Luckett, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, TV celebrity, and culinary fruit and vegetable expert, is helping the Rotary Club and Health Auxiliary raise funds to create a new medication room at the hospital's emergency department to replace the 31-year-old current medication station that is so small the required two-person team dispensing medications can't fit inside. It's little more than a closet with little in the way of -- or room for -- organized compartments.
Sylvia Crowe, an auxiliary member, was at the hospital when the 1981 medication station opened. She said while it may have been fine at the time, it's hardly adequate now. She said the planned-for much larger room will allow two people in the room and cabinets will help store the medication properly without chances for error. The main goal is to enhance patient safety.
Also, due to the current room's small size there are limitations to the number and types of medications that are stocked there. This means that in times of urgency, nursing staff have to take extra measures to get the medication the patient requires.
Besides Luckett and the Annapolis Big Band, the Rotary Club canteen services will be available. In case of rain, the event will be held at the nearby Middleton Regional High School Gymnasium. As happened last year, Scotiabank's Dan Forbes will be on hand keeping tabs on the donations with the bank matching funds in the good-will offering up to $5,000.
Last year the Serenade in the Park raised money for four new vital signs units for the emergency department. The event proceeds went a long way towards covering the cost of the $20,000 commitment made by the auxiliary. Those units are now paid for.
Organizing this year's event are auxiliary president Elizabeth Spinney and Rotary's Scott Brigley. The pair did the same last year for the first Serenade.
