A Community Rallies Around Its Local Health System

Andy Lyons, corporate communications director, Roper St. Francis Healthcare

From Girl Scouts donating cookies they couldn’t sell, to chaplains bringing lollipops to nursing stations, to colleagues making posters and shout-outs to frontline staff, coronavirus isn’t spreading only an illness, but kindness and cheer as well.

As hospitals and health care organizations seek much-needed personal protective equipment for staff, communities are responding by donating comfort items, too — sending caregivers pizzas, boxed lunches, beverages, sweet treats, and much more.

We recently caught up with Andy Lyons, corporate communications director at Roper St. Francis Healthcare (RSFH) in the Charleston, South Carolina area, to see how his department is managing the influx of food and in-kind donations.

“Everyone has been over-the-top generous,” says Lyons. While this region isn’t a hot zone like the tri-state New York area, people are still supporting this health care system, co-owned by Bon Secours Mercy Health and the Medical Society of South Carolina, in unique ways as the system tests people for the coronavirus, cares for them at outpatient centers, and gears up for any surge in cases.

For example, he says:

• A bride who had to postpone her wedding instructed the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina florist to donate all 100 of her floral arrangements to patients in Roper’s Hospice Cottage.
• A local Starbucks supplied coffee to RSFH’s Moncks Corner Medical Plaza.
• Chick-Fil-A made deliveries to many of the organization’s community locations.
• A beverage distributor donated 90 cases of drinks.
• A cupcake shop brought treats to a drive-through testing facility in North Charleston.
• Ethnic cuisine was delivered from a Filipino food truck.

“We’ve been taking photos and trying to work social media to document all that’s been given to us,” says Lyons. “We’ve been really accommodating to everyone who donated.”

Read the full story now: Spreading Kindness and Cheer to Caregivers

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President