PICTURED, FROM LEFT, ARE DANA OSTER, SONOGRAPHER; BARTON FRETS, DR. JOSEPH ROGERS, DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY SERVICES; AND CARMEL GOMES. This year, Dec. 15 was a special day for John C. Fremont Hospital. That day, Billye Frets; son, Barton; and Carmel Gomes, her longtime friend, came to John C. Fremont Hospital to donate funds totaling $25,000 on behalf of Billye Frets. Dr. Joseph Rogers, director of emergency services; Chuck Bill, CEO; and Dana Oster, sonographer, were on hand to thank them for their magnanimous gift and to show them the ultrasound machine that was acquired with the funding.

“My mother insisted that $25,000 be donated to JCF hospital. It was her wish that the money be used to provide a portable ultrasound machine for the emergency department,” said Frets.

Gomes explained, “Dr. Rogers took excellent care of Billye through her two-year battle with cancer. She was treated in the emergency room many times for complications from the disease, and the chemo treatments. Dr. Rogers helped immeasurably to keep her as comfortable and pain free as could be for her condition. The care she received at JCF helped her to still have good quality of life during those two years. She spent her last week in the hospital and the care by Dr. Rogers and staff was so supportive for her, as well as for us, her family and friends.”

Dr. Rogers found a late model used portable ultrasound machine, that was in like new shape, which was purchased for $12,000, a fraction of the cost of a new unit.

With the balance of the funds a brand new Sound Pro Combination Table will be purchased. The Sound Pro table is a stateof the-art ultrasound table with features to use for OB/GYN, general ultrasound and echocardiography. It is extra wide with a 500-pound patient capacity and vast height range, and it is ergonomically designed to suit both patient and sonographer. The remaining funds will be used to remodel the room where ultrasound services will be relocated.

Bill said, “The equipment your donation is purchasing is so valuable to our patient care. It enables our emergency physicians to do diagnostic scans right in the emergency room, and the new table enables us to expand the types of ultrasound procedures we can do here, and it improves patient safety.”

Frets said, “We want this donation to make a positive impact on the community. We can see that the funds are being well used, and that many patients will benefit. I think my mother would be pleased.”