On Sunday, September 17th, the Irene Dunne Guild community gathered at the California Yacht Club for the Fiesta 2023 event. The Fiesta event, held annually in August or September, is a highly anticipated social gathering for IDG members and their partners. This fun-filled event features a delightful dinner and is a joyous celebration of the genuine camaraderie and friendships that define the Irene Dunne Guild community.
​Thank you to Kathy Yawitz and Debi Bishton, Fiesta co-chairs, and their committee for organizing such a beautiful event this year!

​In 2022, through the generous donations to the Annual Patron Drive, the Irene Dunne Guild funded the following equipments and programs, providing a total of $ 118,536.25 in gifts!

Massages for Caregivers: Addresses burnout among hospital staff, providing 10 minutes massages to caregivers monthly.
 
Flowater Refill - Cancer Center: Provides accessible clean water to caregivers and patients and reduce the environmental footprint encouraging water bottles’ refills.
 
Locker Room Refresh - ICU & PCCU: Redo of the Nurses' locker room with new furniture.
 
Electric Gurneys - PreOP and GI departments: Electric gurneys to transport patients.
 
Cardiac I Stat Machine – Kenny and Carol Minerd Heart Institute: The machine provides lab results for patients (like blood panels and respiratory status).
 
Biocon Bladder Scanner - Cancer Center: The machine provides 3D images to determine if catheterization is needed, lowering the rate of cauterizations and thereby the associated urinary infections.
 
Portable Battery Headlight - Heart and Vascular Institute: It is a highly sought-after equipment that allows nurses and surgeons to see more accurately.
 
Wireless Fetal Monitoring System - Women’s Health & Wellness Institute: The device allows women in labor to walk around the floor instead of being tied to a fetal monitor; the movement benefits the labor experience.
 
Irene Dunne Guild Nursing Scholarships: The scholarships help Saint John’s nurses with Associate degrees complete their BSN requirements; they were provided by the Irene Dunne Guild and matching gifts from the hospital. The current five awardees have been selected from the Intensive Care, Neonatal Intensive Care and Preoperative units.

Please consider a tax-deductible gift to our Patron Drive so we can give even greater support Saint John's.  

​​SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 and plan to attend!

Power of Pink Luncheon honoring our fellow Guild member, Mary Flaherty, Trustee, and former Chair of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, with the Ruth Well Spirit of Hope Award. Mary, one of the original founders of the Irene Dunne Guild, has been supporting Saint John's for YEARS in countless ways.  Congratulations, Mary!   

For more information, contact SpecialEvents@providence.org. or Tess Csiszar at (310) 829-8168.

It was terrific to see so many of you at our Think Pink for Women's Wellness event held at the Upper Bel Air Bay Club on May 10th.

We thank Saint John's Health Center Foundation and Irene Dunne Guild President Stephanie Weston for their leadership and support, our Co-Chairs Susie DeWeese and Lorena Craven and their organizing Committee for their dedication, the event’s speakers for their engaging and valuable insights and information, the boutique vendors and the wonderful attendees for their support and participation in making Think Pink a huge success.
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​To learn more about Think Pink, click here.

We are especially grateful for all the speakers at this year's event for generously sharing their valuable and informative insights and information with us. 

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Meena Said, Endocrine surgeon & Founder Wellness Worldwide

Dr. Banafsheh Bayati, Obstetrics and Gynecology Co-Founder of Perelel, a pre/post natal focused vitamin company

Dr. Amir Vokshoor, Neurosurgery and Spine Specialist minimally invasive surgical treatment of adult cranial and spinal disorders

Dr. Manali Shendrikar, Primary Care Medicine, Santa Monica Family Physicians

Megan Webber, Co-Founder, Know the Glow

Please reach out to them directly to learn more about their projects and services. 

By Sue Pascoe of Circling the News
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“Think Pink for Women’s Wellness” is an Irene Dunne Guild annual event, that focuses on health education and awareness for women and their families.  This year’s event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, at the Upper Bel Air Bay Club.

The event features break-through lectures with notable physicians and speakers. Over the years, topics have included healthy brain aging, addiction, urology, dermatology and breast health. The event culminates with a luncheon held in the dining room of the Upper Bel Air Bay Club overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Boutique shopping is available throughout the event with net proceeds benefitting programs, equipment and services at Providence Saint John’s Health Center.
Co-chairs Lorena Craven and Susie DeWeese said this year’s featured speaker is Dr. Meena Said, an endocrine surgeon, who will speak on “Wellness Worldwide: Treating Children with Cancer 8,000 Miles Away.”
Said’s family fled Afghanistan as refugees when she was a baby and lived in Germany for 18 months before moving to the U.S.

The doctor graduated summa cum laude from UCLA and then attended the UCLA School of Medicine, receiving the highest honor bestowed upon a medical student, The Deans Merit Scholarship. After graduating in 2006, Said completed an internal medicine internship at UCLA before pursuing her general surgery residency at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. She completed an Endocrine Surgery Fellowship at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Said has founded a humanitarian nonprofit called Wellness Worldwide to  provide healthcare as well as educational and social support to vulnerable populations, first in Afghanistan, but then, she envisions, in the neediest communities around the world. In a 2021 interview “She Saved My Life. And so Many Others,” the doctor said, “Every human life has equal value. Every man, woman and child deserve a chance to live — irrespective of gender, religion, political beliefs, ethnicity or race.”

Through Wellness Worldwide, she and a network of volunteer doctors deliver medical care and run a family clinic in a refugee camp in Nangarhar. “As a surgeon who operates on cancer patients, I know how desperate and vulnerable cancer patients can be,” she said. “In Afghanistan, there are no cancer facilities for adults or for children. There’s not a single radiation facility in the entire country.” A statistic Said quotes is that 75 percent of the world’s operations are performed on 25 percent of the world’s population.

In America, survival for all cancer children is 80 percent. In the low- and middle-income countries — Afghanistan is one of the five poorest countries on earth — that statistic is flipped: a 20 percent survival rate for children with all cancers.

The Irene Dunne Guild is celebrating its thirty-sixth year as a major support group of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation in Santa Monica. The guild has more than 100 members committed to finding innovative ways to fundraise, comfort patients, educate the community and nurture the mission of providing compassionate care click here.
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The public is invited to attend this event. Tickets are $175 per person. For more information, call (310) 829-8424. Co-chairs Craven and DeWeese said, “We would be thrilled to welcome you to Think Pink 2023.”

Please click here to view original post in Circling the News 

“Think Pink for Women’s Wellness” Event to Take Place in May “Think Pink for Women’s Wellness”, an Irene Dunne Guild annual event that focuses on health education and awareness for women and their families, will take place Wednesday, May 10th, from 8:30am-3:00 pm at the Upper Bel Air Bay Club. The Irene Dunne Guild, a support group of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, created Think Pink over 18 years ago as a gathering meant to educate women on important health issues. The event features breakthrough lectures with notable physicians and speakers. Over the years, topics have included healthy brain aging, addiction, urology, dermatology, and breast health. The event culminates with a luncheon held in the dining room of the Upper Bel Air Bay Club. Boutique shopping is available throughout the event with net proceeds benefiting programs, equipment, and services at Providence Saint John’s Health Center. Think Pink Co-Chairs are Lorena Craven and Susie DeWeese. Tickets are $175.00 per person. Visit www.irenedunneguild.org for more information. 
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Click here for original article on page 6 of the Beverly Hills Weekly

​By the Malibu Times
Think Pink for Women’s Wellness, an Irene Dunne Guild annual event, focuses on health education and awareness for women and their families. The Irene Dunne Guild, a support group of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, created Think Pink over 18 years ago as a gathering meant to educate women on important health issues. 

The Irene Dunne Guild is celebrating its 36th year as a major support group of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation in Santa Monica. The guild is comprised of over 100 members committed to putting their hearts forward to find innovative ways to fundraise, comfort patients, educate their community, and nurture the mission of providing compassionate care. 

The event features breakthrough lectures with notable physicians and speakers. Over the years, topics have included healthy brain aging, addiction, urology, dermatology, and breast health. The event culminates with a wonderful luncheon held in the beautiful dining room of the Upper Bel Air Bay Club overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Boutique shopping is available throughout the event with net proceeds benefitting programs, equipment and services at Providence Saint John’s Health Center.

This year’s event is Wednesday, May 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Upper Bel Air Bay Club. Tickets are $175 per person. Think Pink co-chairs are Lorena Craven and Susie DeWeese. For more information, contact Saint John’s Foundation at (310) 829-8424. For more information visit, www.irenedunneguild.org.

Working in healthcare is never easy but the past few years have been enormously taxing for caregivers everywhere.  The Irene Dunne Guild is pleased to support caregivers at Saint John's with supportive programs and equipment that helps care for them and enhanced the personalized care they provide for our community. 

At our January General Meeting, Guild members heard how our fundraising dollars are deployed at the Health Center. Recent gifts from the Guild include: Massages for Caregivers, Biocon Bladder Scanners, a FloWater Station for staff in the Cancer Center, electric gurneys for the Pre-op and the GI Departments, a Cardiac i-StatMachine for the Heart and Vascular Department, portable battery headlights for the Heart and Vascular Department, portable fetal monitors for the Labor and Delivery department, Locker Room Refresh for ICU and PCCU and Nursing Scholarships.

Caregiver representatives from various departments described each of these gifts and how they are being used at the hospital. Their excitement and heartfelt appreciation for these gifted programs and equipment was palpable! 

We also heard from our Guild member liaisons to various institutes in the Health Center who updated fellow members on exciting new programs and research at Providence Saint John's. One example was guild member Kathy Yawitz's update on the Pacific Neuroscience Institute (PNI).  

She said that PNI has been creating “a roadmap to brain health.” This combines memory training, exercise, and nutritional-based curriculum. They are offering classes to the community, with various packages to choose from and individual, group and virtual sessions available for varying time lengths and prices. One example was a class called Vital Minds – catered towards individuals experiencing cognitive changes, covering brain-healthy behaviors such as diet, exercise, sleep, stress reduction, cognitive stimulation, and memory strategies. She mentioned another class addressing memory care, helpful for individuals, loved ones and for home health caregivers. Another class, LifestyleHealth Coaching, offers virtual classes which focus on healthy lifestyle behaviors including sleep, stress management, exercise, diet – certainly something that all of us could appreciate. This and many other classes are available at affordable prices.

For more information, please refer to the Pacific Neuroscience Institute's website.www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/brain-health/lifestyle/