A Touch of Comfort Updates
January 2024 Update - James H. McCallion
We at A Touch of Comfort are saddened to hear of the passing of James McCallion. James was a three time recipient of A Touch of Comfort services and his family has chosen our charity to make contributions in his memory. We are honored to have been considered for these donations. If anyone in the future would like to leave a legacy bequest to A Touch of Comfort, please contact Carol Doheny.
February 2023: About Amazon Smiles
As many of you know, we've been partnering for almost a decade with AmazonSmile as a mechanism to get more out of your generous donations. While it's disappointing to us, and many other smaller non-profits and charitable organizations, Amazon is shutting down AmazonSmile as of Feb 20th.
We're so excited, and proud to announce that we have partnered with Benevity Causes! This will allow us to work with employers to match your donations!
Additionally - We're exploring a partnership to expand our offerings. Historically we've focused on the patient experience, but a future relationship with Yale suites will allow us to support family members of people in the oncology transplant unit, providing them with a place to stay.
Ann's Retirement and welcoming Tanaz and Jill!
Ann Conklin-Walsh, RN, is retiring! She's been a member of our professional advisory board at Yale New Haven Hospital for the past 20 years and will be greatly missed. We appreciate all her hard work and wish her the best.
Joining our team at YNHH will be Tanaz Mistry, RN, OCN, and Jill Williams, RN. To the right we see Tanaz Mistry, Ann Conklin-Walsh, and Jill Willans (Left), and Ann Conklin-Walsh with our Vice President Carol Doheny (right).
Personnel Updates
New Boston Nurse Coordinator, Bridget Sammon, RN - BIDMC
We would like to welcome our new Nurse Coordinator, Bridget!
Bridget has long been a mainstay at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and has recently started working with us to coordinate the timing, resourcing, and prioritization of our activities with BIDMC. Her help has been invaluable during the pandemic, while physical access to the buildings has been restricted. We're very excited to continue to work with her, for much as things continue to change, we remain dedicated to our ongoing mission, of ensuring the quality of life, and peace of mind, for cancer patients, and their loved ones. Welcome, Bridget!
December 2023 Update
As we continue our mission, we are trying to keep up with changes due to the worldwide pandemic and others issues closer to home. Right now BIDMC is the only place still delivering the original goody bags. There is a collaboration planned in the next few years with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, so hopefully that won't change. We do appreciate all they do there to continue Jimmy's original mission.
Other exciting changes are this new website! Thank you Siobhan Sargent for all your support. And at Smilow we have started offering one or 2 night stay at the Suites at Yale, for transplant patients who need to stay in the New Haven area or their families. This is a picture of Carol and Tanaz at Smilow on Halloween (also Tanaz's birthday).