TURLOCK — Dr. Ralph Truitt worked at the “old” Emanuel Hospital in 1950 and the experience has driven him to be one of the top fundraisers for the new Emanuel Emergency Department.
 
Truitt, 86, retired in 1980 and on Thursday turned in $10,000 in pledges. Truitt and the other 250 Legacy Circle community and employee volunteers brought in $175,586 the past week.

Legacy Circle, the giving arm of Emanuel Medical Center, has totaled $595,946 in its campaign to help fund the new Emergency Department.  The six-week campaign enters into its final week, with the finale and a new car giveaway staged 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Turlock Auto Plaza, 1600 Auto Mall Drive, Turlock.

“We will have a strong final week,” said Jana Rhine, director of annual giving at Emanuel.  “In past years, it’s been our biggest week of the campaign.”

Truitt said he’s been involved with Legacy Circle because Emanuel has a reputation for top quality medical care and he wants that to continue.

“We did the first pacemaker in the valley at the old hospital,” said Truitt.

A Turlock farmer in the 1960s had collapsed and needed a pacemaker, said Truitt.  The heart procedure was still very new and being pioneered by a friend at Stanford University.

“I called Dr. Norman Shumway and said I needed a pacemaker,” said Truitt.  “He said he’d send me one, but I asked ‘who’s going to install it?’  He said put your surgeon on the line and I’ll tell him how to do it.”

Turlock surgeon Dr. George Paullus, with instructions from Shumway, successfully implanted the pacemaker and, in 1960, history was made.

Shumway, the leading heart surgeon of his time, made history in 1968 when he performed the first successful U.S. heart transplant.  He pioneered the procedure, which is now considered routine.

“Turlock has had unusually good quality medical care,” said Truitt.  “Now that I’m retired, I know we need to support the hospital to continue our first quality medical care.”

The employee volunteers, who contributed $53,961 of Thursday’s total, included strong efforts from Erika Kinsley and Bert Freyschlag.

Kinsley, a unit secretary and nursing assistant, had eight new pledges and renewed another 13 for a total of $3,080.

“I just feel like I’m doing my part,” said Kinsley, “because I will be in the new building.”

Freyschlag, Emanuel’s controller, is out to top the $15,000 he secured for last year’s fund drive. He’s been successful soliciting friends and area businesses.

“As far as community involvement and support, it’s pretty amazing what this community does,” he said.

For more information about the 2006 Legacy Circle campaign or to donate to this year’s Fund Drive, please call the Office of Development at Emanuel, (209) 664-5180.
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