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Community Corner

Childerguild Raises $152,300 for Silver Cross Hospital

Over 450 friends of Silver Cross Hospital attended the 85th annual Childerguild Ball November 23 at the Odyssey Country Club and enjoyed wonderful food and dancing. The premiere event of the holiday season raised over $152,300 which will be used to support women’s and children’s programs and services at the new Silver Cross Hospital.

The annual tradition of the Childerguild Ball began in 1928 as a fundraiser for the Obstetrics and Pediatrics departments at Silver Cross Hospital and keeps going strong thanks to the commitment of the members of Childerguild and to the many friends of the hospital who contribute to make this event a great success year after year. This year Barbara Steffes chaired the Ball. Her committee included: Adele Adams, Carole DeBenedetti, Karen Hughes, Pam Resutko, Cindy Studer, and Carole Ziemke.

As a prelude to the dinner, the hospital awarded medals of excellence to two prominent community service and healthcare minded individuals.

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This year’s Silver Cross Sehring Medal of Excellence was awarded to ophthalmology physician Paul Morimoto, M.D.   Dr. Morimoto has diligently served the healthcare community for over 40 years. Throughout his years at Silver Cross Hospital, he has shared his expertise as a leader serving as Secretary on the Silver Cross Medical Staff. Dr. Morimoto was one of the area’s first physicians to perform state-of-the–art eye procedures such as cataract, eye implant and artificial tear duct surgeries using new microscope technology. Over the years, Dr. Morimoto volunteered with the Joliet Rotary, where he started the club’s Avoidable Blindness Screenings. Dr. Morimoto noticed that some of his patients were going blind but they had no symptoms of diabetes. When investigated, these patients actually had Type 2 diabetes. Since blindness was a consequence of unknown diabetes, Dr. Morimoto and his team provided an annual screening event using Joliet Rotarians as volunteers. Through these efforts many people found help.

Silver Cross also honored Terry D’Arcy with the Sangmeister Medal of Excellence for the many hours he has unselfishly given of his time to improve the quality of life of Will County residents. In the early 1980’s, Terry decided to pursue an opportunity selling cars. After gaining further experience, he began buying several Joliet car dealerships in the 1990’s including Oldsmobile, Volkswagon, GMC, Buick and Hyundai. Today, he is President and owner of D’Arcy Motors overseeing one of the region’s largest automobile dealerships. When Terry started in the dealerships, he had 26 employees. Today, his business has flourished to include over 180 employees. Throughout Terry’s life, he has been known as a dedicated community activist. He was one of the Founding members of the First Community Bank of Joliet and served as the Chair for the 2007 Chicago Auto Show. For over 25 years, he has volunteered hundreds of hours of his time to numerous area organizations including the Forest Park Community Center, Fraternal Order of Police, Hispanic Baseball League, Joliet Area Historical Museum, Joliet Franciscan Learning Center, Joliet Park District Foundation, Right Moves for Youth, United Way, University of St. Francis, Catholic Charities of Joliet and the Chicago Automobile Board.  He is also a founding member of the Silver Cross Healthy Community Commission. During his involvement, Terry has positively impacted these organizations by helping them reach their goals to serve the needs of area residents.

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The Silver Cross Foundation is accepting nominations through Dec. 31, 2013 for the 2014 Silver Cross Medals of Excellence.  For more information, call (815) 300-7105.

The 2014 Childerguild Ball will be held Saturday, November 22 and the location is to be determined.

 
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