As time goes by…
Auxiliary celebrates 50th anniversary
December 1955
Under the leadership of Mrs. Elmer J. Zanetta, the Women’s Auxiliary forms to equip and staff a mobile library and to staff the information desk at Peninsula Community Hospital. Following the completion of training in January, the 28 new members will don their “cheery red uniforms” to “lend a happy note to hospital corridors” and observe a strict code of ethics.
October 1956
The Women’s Auxiliary raises $2,000 to pay for new isotope lab equipment.
September 1958
Directors of Peninsula Community Hospital give the go-ahead on the new $2.5 million, 100-bed hospital on Carmel Hill. Target date for completion is 1961.
December 1958
The Women’s Auxiliary gives $4,250 to the new community hospital fund, raised at their first Treasures & Trinkets auction.
January 1959
Doctors “become woodsmen” as they operate on the new hospital site, cutting brush and small pine trees to clear an “observation route” through the 22-acre site. This will enable the public to inspect the area and enjoy the spectacular view. Meanwhile, a luncheon is provided for the doctors, also known as “tree surgeons,” by the Women’s Auxiliary.
April 1960
The Women’s Auxiliary publishes its new illustrated community directory, financed by selling ad space. The directory, which includes the 7,000 homeowners in Carmel, Pebble Beach, and the Carmel Highlands, is intended to help people find one another in an area with few recognizable addresses. The directories sold for $1.04 apiece.
August 1960
The groundbreaking ceremony is held for the new Community Hospital. Samuel F.B. Morse digs the first spade of dirt.
November 1960
The Women’s Auxiliary pledges $25,000 toward hospital construction and gives an initial $10,000 from sales of its directory. They soon raise another $5,000 by staffing vendor booths at Laguna Seca Raceway.
1961
The Women’s Auxiliary creates the “Puppet Program.” A dozen volunteers hand-sew terrycloth companions to be presented to young patients.
March 1961
The Women’s Auxiliary sells $1 admission tickets to spectators at the Concours d’Elegance to raise funds toward the construction of the new hospital.
July 1961
The Women’s Auxiliary meets in a tent on the new hospital site for the first time. They soon don hard hats and lead tours of the hospital, still under construction, for members of the public.
November 1961
Clad as expectant bunnies in their “pillow-stuffed pinafores” and rakish ears to symbolize the rapid expansion of their corps, the Women’s Auxiliary wins the statewide hat contest at the California Council of Hospital Auxiliary Convention in San Diego.
December 1961
The Women’s Auxiliary decides to name their monthly bulletin “The Pink Pulse” to complement the hospital magazine, Pulse.
May 1962
The Women’s Auxiliary is designated to run the new Fountain Court Café. The “attractive new snack bar” will be managed and operated by the “Pink Ladies.” The café officially opens in July.
June 1962
A lineup of ambulances moves the first 50 patients to their “glistening” new Community Hospital on Carmel Hill. A baby is born, a heart patient dies, and behind many doors remain unpacked boxes and bare offices.
August 1963
Hospital Administrator Tom Tonkin speaks at the first meeting of the Candy Stripers, a Women’s Auxiliary-sponsored volunteer corps of teenaged girls 16 and older.
August 1965
The Women’s Auxiliary funds the newly expanded snack bar. The “walnut-and-white Formica counters” are remodeled to accommodate increasing numbers of patrons, now 4,000 per month.
September 1967
The Women’s Auxiliary pledges $100,000 toward the hospital expansion, which will involve doubling the floor space and adding 74 additional beds at a total cost of $1.6 million.
January 1969
Virginia Stanton, socialite and party editor of House Beautiful magazine from 1949 to 1964, is the first Pink Lady to become a hospital trustee.
January 1970
The Women’s Auxiliary presents the hospital with a check for $101,701 to satisfy their 1967 pledge, plus a second check for $17,500 to help finance the linking of the hospital communication system to other hospitals, ambulances, and emergency vehicles.
January 1971
The hospital opens a $4 million, four-story addition. Members of the Women’s Auxiliary attend a demonstration of the new linear accelerator for cancer treatment, as well as of the television monitors, in the new Intensive Care Unit that transmit heartbeats.
November 1972
The Women’s Auxiliary presents the hospital with a check for $35,200, which completes a $65,000 pledge to buy a nuclear camera useful in detecting tumors. The funds are raised through snack bar and gift shop revenues.
February 1973
The Women’s Auxiliary introduces “Telecare” to 12 subscribers. Community Hospital’s daily contact program is offered free of charge and staffed by 18 Pink Ladies.
September 1974
“Flip-O” the plush frog is introduced in a pre-surgery orientation program for kids. The Flip-O program is designed to acquaint children with procedures through a slide-show presentation in which the frog accompanies a child in his hospital travels.
1976
The Women’s Auxiliary pledges $100,000 to purchase a new scanner, formally known as the whole body computerized axial tomographic scanning system.
March 1977
The Women’s Auxiliary introduces “Tel-Med,” a phone-based program providing three-to seven-minute taped answers to common medical questions.
September 1977
No longer called “Pink Ladies,” the Auxiliary introduces “Gold Volunteers.” This “first infiltration” of men into the organization numbers 24 among a total of 413 volunteers. The men wear gold jackets and ties over white shirts and slacks. The first to break the gender barrier are the teen volunteers when, in 1976, candy stripers allow boys to join their ranks, becoming “student volunteers.”
Winter 1977-78
With the retirement of “Pink Ladies,” the Auxiliary bulletin, “Pink Pulse,” gets renamed “Currents.”
January 1979
The Auxiliary pledges $132,000 to double the size of the main conference room. Completion is scheduled for April 1979, but the room is ready by March.
September 1980
A “Gala Fiesta” is held at Carmel Mission in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Auxiliary.
October 1980
The Auxiliary pledges $250,000 over five years toward the construction of the new Outpatient Pavilion. It is the largest single gift in the Auxiliary’s 25-year history.
December 1980
The Auxiliary continues its tradition of decorating 10 Christmas trees, placed throughout the hospital. The Auxiliary also makes cozy red stockings in which to send home“ Christmas babies.”
February 1981
The Auxiliary hosts a health fair at the hospital, offering basic health information, testing, and evaluation, all free of charge.
April 1981
The Auxiliary launches Lifeline, a 24-hour emergency medical assistance service for the elderly, ill, or alone.
November 1981
The Auxiliary hosts its annual Gift Fair, hoping to raise more than its 1980 total of $16,000.
Winter 1993
In honor of hospital president/CEO Jay Hudson’s 25 years of service, the Auxiliary sponsors his commission of 25 paintings by legendary Hank Ketcham “with optimism and anticipation, celebration and joy” to color the walls of the new Family Birth Center.
September 1996
Thanks in part to a $500,000 contribution by the Auxiliary, the “high-tech, high-touch” Family Birth Center opens.
March 1997
A $4.2 million bequest enables the Auxiliary to increase college scholarship grants by $400,000.
Winter 1999
President/CEO Jay Hudson writes, “The success of the campaign to raise funds for the Cancer Center was a confirmation of the community’s and the Auxiliary’s commitment to making the Center a reality. Thanks in part to the pace-setting donation of $600,000 from the Auxiliary, our $7.5 million campaign goal was exceeded 18 months ahead of schedule.”
Winter 2000
The Auxiliary completes its pledge of $200,000 toward the construction of the new South Pavilion through Fountain Court, gift shop, and donor revenues.
July 2004
More than 25 Auxiliary members participate in Monterey’s 4th of July parade.
April 2005
The Auxiliary celebrates it’s 50th anniversary with a party at Spanish Bay.