In 1983, as the Johnson Auxiliary was celebrating its tenth anniversary in serving Regional Medical Center, hospital administrators approached the Auxiliary about expanding the services provided to the hospital and its patients to include operating and managing a Gift Shop. Profits from the Gift Shop would be donated to the hospital on an annual basis to support the purchase of needed medical equipment, educational initiatives, and other projects important to the hospital. Johnson Auxiliary members agreed to take this additional service project on and the Gift Shop opened its doors in November 1983 on the first floor of the Jefferson Building. Besides offering a wide range of merchandise and services, the Auxiliary’s Gift Shop serves as another example of hospitality provided within the hospital and a welcome change of scenery that is removed from the accidents and illnesses that bring people to the hospital. More than $462,000 has been donated from Gift Shop profits to The MED Foundation. Projects funded by Gift Shop profits this year included the donation of the Meditation Room within the Critical Care Waiting Room and ongoing support of the Jency Mitchell Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students pursuing a career in the health field. Current and future projects include funding for equipment purchases and patient care and education initiatives of the Adult Special Care Clinic; purchase of six hospital beds for the new Burn Center Rehabilitation Unit; and a new Rehabilitation Waiting Room.
