MCH Skilled Nursing Facility Resident Donates $62,000 to the Foundation

At last week’s Le Grand Picnic we recognized and honored two extraordinary members of the Mountains Community Hospital family: Janet Owens and Sherry Kemplin.

Two months ago, Janet Owens, a resident in our Skilled Nursing Facility, donated $62,000 to the Mountains Community Hospital Foundation. Sherry Kemplin, Janet’s friend and MCH Eligibility Specialist, helped make this gift possible.

In 2016, Janet received a call from a law office with regard to some surplus funds from the sale of her home. They sent over the paperwork to sign, but when Janet asked to speak with an attorney, this was the response: “Our attorney, Bryan, is not driving to Arrowhead.  Just let Janet know she will lose the funds.  She is wasting everyone’s time.”  Well, that didn’t deter Janet or Sherry!

At Janet’s request, Sherry began to dig deeper. She found out that the San Bernardino County Court had been trying to reach Janet for almost two years and that a hearing had been set. Sherry went to work.  In her spare time, she researched case law, filed court documents and represented Janet in court.  Together, they fended off unprofessional attorneys and greedy relatives, eventually winning the case late last year.

Janet donated the money to the Foundation because she considers Mountains Community Hospital her home. She never imagined she would end up in a place with care this wonderful and her donation is a tribute to the great work of our staff.

The entire story cannot be told here, but it is very interesting and touching, and I hope that if you see them, you’ll ask to hear it. Janet and Sherry make our hospital proud and our community a better place and we can’t thank them enough.

Preliminary numbers indicate that last week’s Le Grand Picnic was our most successful ever!!! Thank you to all of our donors, sponsors, guests and volunteers and stay tuned for a recap in early August.