As publicity chairman for the Sequim Dungeness Hospital Guild, I am responding to the articles in the Sequim Gazette concerning administrative costs, etc., incurred by the Olympic Medical Foundation (“OMC Foundation under fire,” page A-1, Jan. 8 and “Foundation donors call for more transparency,” page A-1, Jan. 15).

Several of our customers who shop at our Thrift Shop have voiced concerns over donations we have given over the years to OMC and wonder if that money actually has gone for the equipment requested by them. The answer is YES. Olympic Medical Center and the Olympic Medical Foundation are two separate entities. Each year we ask the various departments of the hospital (not the OMC Foundation) to submit “wish lists” to us for various pieces of equipment they need.

We usually receive 3-5 requests from these departments. We then vote on which requests to fund (based on our opinion of cost and need to the community). We have received over the years from various departments input in the form of thank you letters as to how important these gifts were for patients entering OMC facilities, i.e. warming blankets for folks to use during cancer treatments or medical procedures, stroke medication (carried in EMS vehicles and at the hospital, a microscope that detects tuberculosis in blood earlier, etc.

We are a Hospital Guild and our goal is to give back to Sequim and Clallam County profits from our Thrift Shop that will help in the comfort and treatment of folks in our community and know first-hand that 100 percent of this money given to the OMC (not the OMC Foundation) has been used for the purpose it was intended.

Addie Curtis

Sequim Dungeness Hospital Guild

Sequim