Community Connection Newsletter

Summer, 2011

Community Care:
Fabulous Shopping . . . at a Hospital?

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has been an integral part of the social fabric of the East Bay for more than 100 years. Through award-winning programs in community health and chronic disease management, the medical center has expanded its focus on health, wellness, education and disease prevention into all corners of our richly diverse community.

Next time you’re in the vicinity of Alta Bates Summit, stop by, find the gift shop, then prepare to do some serious shopping— and a serious good turn.

Whether you’re in the gift shop at Alta Bates or Herrick or in the Merritt or Providence Pavilion, you’ll see a pleasing—OK, surprising—array of top quality yet affordable items that may already beon your shopping list. Each of the four destinations “is a gift shop in a hospital, not a hospital gift shop,” says Susan Abalos, gift shops manager, emphasizing that she does business with many of the same vendors as her competitors in the commercial world.

A big difference, though, is where the receipts go: “We’re raising funds to benefit programs for the medical center,” says Susan. “Over the past 10 years, the gift shops have donated almost $1 million to the Alta Bates Summit Foundation and other departments of the hospital. If you’re our customer, you’re getting something good for yourself and benefiting a good cause.”

One reason the whole effort has been so successful is that the merchandise has been specially selected for each shop’s particular clientele. The Providence gift shop, for example, is just steps from the Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center and features stylish women’s apparel—jackets, jewelry and other accessories, a smart assortment of greeting cards and much more.

The recently revamped Alta Bates gift shop “is right across from elevators that go up to the third floor, where more than 7,000 babies are born each year,” adds Susan. “We carry a lot of gifts for newborns—clothes, birth certificate holders—as well as gifts for new parents and big brothers and sisters too. Family and friends can purchase gifts and fresh flower arrangements online or call in orders, and our volunteers will deliver personally to a new mom or patient on any campus of the medical center.”

Another reason for the gifts shops’ success is their enthusiastic crew of volunteers. “We have five paid staff, but everyone else who staffs the gift shops volunteers, including about 25 seniors at the four campuses and about 40 college students,” says Susan. “Just like our customers, they feel good about what they do because they’re giving back.”

The gift shops at the Alta Bates Campus and the Merritt Pavilion are open Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., and Saturday–Sunday, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Gifts shops at the Providence Pavilion and Herrick are open Monday–Friday, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. You can shop online, 24/7, at www.absmcgiftshops.org . If you want to volunteer, visit www.altabatessummit.org , click “Become a Volunteer” and fill out an online application.