Dancing With the CARS - September 12!

As I'm sure you know, we here at the VMC Foundation like to have a big, formal, opulent gala every fall...except this one.

Oh - we'll have a huge party all right, but it won't be stuffy, or formal. Leave the penguin suit at home and come to the most FUN event of the year: Dancing with the CARS.
Club Auto Sport in San Jose is hosting us, featuring some of the world's rarest and most amazing cars you've ever seen...including my favorite pictured above. Yes, they have a Bugatti there and it's so pretty my knees get weak.

But even if cars aren't your thing, we'll have amazing food by Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme (like last year), world-class wine by Burrell School Vineyards (a returning sponsor), fabulous dance music from David DuMont's Li'l Big Band (back again) and something new: Cirque performers to astound and amaze.

And auction items. And prizes. And race car simulators. Kids will even enjoy this party, and in a shocking show of non-stuffyness, we've lowered the ticket price to $149 each - down from previous years, and well worth it for the fun you'll have.

So make plans, and get your tickets here. There are still some larger sponsorship opportunities as well, which could be beneficial to your organization and to the VMC Foundation. Of course, give us a ring at 408-885-5299 with any detail questions.

Support VMC the easy way...Rock n' Roll and BBQ!

So, last night's band practice was totally excellent...I know because my ears are still ringing.

We're practicing for the upcoming VMC BBQ, put on annually by your public hospital's award-winning Therapeutic Recreation department. This dedicated crew supports our patients with spinal cord and brain injuries - and their family and friends.

Oh - the band...yes, it's the famous Idol Hands, in which your humble author plays bass guitar. We do blues, rock, R&B...fronted by our amazing singer Veronica Giles, R.N., we provide live entertainment for all the big VMC events...maybe because we play for free.

Come support VMC's Rehab Center, National Parks and Recreation Month, and the Idol Hands Band:

Thursday July 9, 11:30 - 1 (ish)
Valley Medical Center's Rehab Lawn, Bascom at Renova
BBQ, live music, games, prizes and fun
Five Dollars for lunch, rehab patients FREE

This great mid-day, mid-week escape is open to the public...tell a friend or two and come on down!

Turner turns golf into GOLD!

Turner is a big company with a big heart: Founded in 1902, they build schools, airports...and of course, medical centers!

For the last dozen years or so, Turner has also been supporting the VMC Foundation with their annual golf classic. This is a fun way for the Bay Area team and their subcontractors and partners to raise funds while proving that they spend more time working than playing golf...yes, there was some bad golf played this week at Oakland's Claremont Country Club, led of course by your Hacker-in-Chief, me.

No matter - at the evening banquet, the VMC Foundation was presented with a BIG check - $58,000, which is the most Turner has ever raised for us in one year. We are absolutely thrilled about this, so please help me give a shout-out of thanks to Kevin Antonelli and his great Turner team for all they did to make this day happen.

Celebrate National Nurses Week!

As Valley Medical Center continues to see a larger number of patients every year, it sure is great to know we have a fantastic team of nurses - HAPPY NATIONAL NURSES WEEK!

Here at YOUR public hospital, we're celebrating today with a nursing education fair, 11am to 4:30pm in our new Valley Specialty Center building, Sobrato Cancer Center Conference Room...come by!

Tomorrow, Thursday May 7, VMC's Nursing Exellence Awards will be given out in an inspiring ceremony at 1pm - again, Sobrato Concference Room at VSC.

Join me in thanking those who have dedicated their lives to the field of nursing. If you happen to be a nurse reading this, THANK YOU! I've been on the receiving end of wonderful nursing care here at VMC, and I sleep better at night knowing you are there for us all.

In case you missed our Earth Day celebration...

Valley Medical Center did Earth Day 2009 up right with a historic launch of our solar panels...and nearly 1,000 people were on hand for the fiesta.

If you weren't able to attend, below is the next best thing. If your employer blocks videos, send this to your private account and watch from home. A huge thanks to Michael Elliott, VMC Foundation's Director of Program Development and Videography.

Join us Wednesday and MAKE HISTORY!

Hot enough for ya?

This week brings weather warm enough to fry an egg...or help save the planet, in the case of Valley Medical Center.

Join us at 2pm this Wednesday, EARTH DAY, on top of our parking deck for a history-making event: We're activiting our solar panels - 2,288 of them to be exact - and ushering in a new era of efficiency and environmentalism at YOUR public hospital.

Free ice cream, music, VMC Foundation water (in compostable bottles!), and Valley VIP's including Tom Werner, CEO of Sunpower (they make the solar panels). I know I've mentioned this event before, but this will truly be one to tell your grandkids about...

...when they ask you what our generation did to save the earth.

I know I feel pretty darn proud to work for an organization that takes energy conservation seriously. Oh - and it will be FUN, too - hope to see you there!

Here comes the Sun (Power)!

Earth Day 2009 will be extra-special at Valley Medical Center, and YOU are invited to be a part of it! The 50-second video below provides a sneak preview, but here are the details in print form:

Valley Medical Center invites you to Earth Day 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2pm
Main Parking Garage, top floor, corner of Moorpark and Turner Drive in San Jose



We will be officially powering up our new Solar panels!
Join Silicon Valley VIP's, elected officials, and dedicated staff of your public hospital as we turn on our massive new photovoltaics - the first of their kind in Silicon Valley!

Free ice cream + healthier snacks while they last, music, and the spirit that says "VMC is GOING GREEN!"

Please do join us for this historic day - we'd love to have you there for this celebration. For more info, visit http://www.vmcfoundation.org/ and of course, if your employer blocks YouTube, send this to your private email.

2,000 bikes = ho ho ho!

Allow me to demolish any remaining cynicism you have about the holidays:

Saturday was an incredible day, as hundreds of Silicon Valley volunteers came together to build thousands of bikes for children who might otherwise have nothing – and that’s just the beginning…

Turning Wheels for Kids is a grass-roots group of caring people that became a program of the VMC Foundation a couple years ago. Today’s annual Bike Build began early in the morning at the San Jose Convention Center, when FOUR 18-WHEELERS full of unassembled bikes were unloaded by teams of builders. Volunteers from Juniper, Yahoo, Google, Fox Racing, local bike clubs and just regular folk worked their butts off so that kids could have something new, empowering and healthy for the holidays.

At one point, Sue Runsvold was left speechless…hard to do, if you know Sue! She’s the executive director for TWFK and was presented a check for $20,000 by local construction heroes DPR, Inc. Sue’s a nurse manager as well, so you’d think she was used to surprises. Other firms and groups gave too – thousands more – and the money was nothing compared to the inspiration of seeing the kids get their new shiny bikes.

Brandi Chastain, “Sharkie”, and elected officials joined in as Christmas came early for so many needy families. I could write about it all day and not do it justice…to get a better idea of what this event feels like, check out http://www.turningwheels.org/ to see all they offer. Am I proud to be a part of this? Does Rudolph have a shiny shnoz?

P.S. A big hug to Leah Toeniskoetter, VMC Foundation Board Chair and one of Turning Wheels’ greatest champions, for taking these photos. Did you see us on the news?

Our Gala and Measure A Support!

I've figured out about blogging: If you do it right, you don't really need to write much...just point out great writing that others have done - such a snap!

We're so glad that the Mercury News truly understands Valley Medical Center, as their lead editorial today urging a YES vote on Measure A clearly demonstrates:


"When Silicon Valley residents go to a hospital, they expect to receive quality care utilizing the latest advances in technology. That holds true at Valley Medical Center today. But it won't five years from now unless Santa Clara County voters approve Measure A..." Read the full story here.


Also today in the Merc, our pal Sal Pizarro shared his thoughts on our 20th Anniversary Gala...and I'll share mine: A HUGE SUCCESS! I cannot thank everyone enough for the work and support and sponsorships that made "Dancing On Top of the World" so much fun, but a few that we really must:

• Our lead sponsors: Anshen + Allen Architects, Deloitte, The Sobrato Foundation, the Sorci Family Foundation, attorney Richard Alexander and Burrell School Vineyards.




• Vince, Meghan, and all at Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme - hands down the best event and catering team in the valley...they did the impossible. Again.




• Narpat and Chandra Bhandari, who opened their amazing home for us.




• The Board of the VMC Foundation, and our tireless staff...especially JUDY MAASSEN, who did the lion's share of the work!

Our friend Chris Johnson took lots of great photos*, which you will see soon in all the papers, but Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme did too: www.psrt.com/vmc Check 'em out! We danced the night away thanks to David Dumont's Li'l Big Band, and our volunteers kept things running smoothly - except the program, which I sort of torpedoed because, frankly, everyone was having too much fun to stop and listen to a speech.

Still, it would have been fun to tell the story of our founding, and thank the founders that were in the room: Brenna Bolger, Dr. Bob Violante, Susie Wilson, Gerry Beemiller, and Peggy Fleming-Jenkins and Greg Jenkins. Thanking John and Sue Sobrato and singing "Happy Birthday" to our board chair, Leah Toeniskoetter, would have been fun too. Instead, you got to read this, and also Sal's column:

Pizarro: Valley Medical Center supporters kick up their heels at 20th anniversary gala
By Sal Pizarro Mercury News

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Valley Medical Center Foundation wanted its annual fundraising gala to be a truly special event. Saturday night's "Dancing on Top of the World" certainly qualified on that account.

More than 400 people in black-tie and evening gowns flocked to the beautiful, chateau-like home of Chandra and Narpat Bhandari in the Los Gatos hills, where they took in sweeping views of Silicon Valley and danced the night away in a gorgeous ballroom to the sounds of David Dumont's Lil' Big Band.

Guests were spread throughout several rooms and the grounds for dinner, so there were new faces to greet every time you walked into a room. I didn't run into some people until the evening's end, when everyone was waiting at the great common denominator: the line for the shuttle to get back down the hill.

Chris Wilder, the VMC Foundation's executive director, made a really smart call (suggested, I'm told, by John and Sue Sobrato) to cancel the program and auction portion of the night so as not to interrupt the fun, lively vibe.

But I know what Wilder would have told the crowd if they had been herded into the estate's grand ballroom: The lack of organized opposition to Measure A, the $840 million bond measure to seismically retrofit Valley Medical Center, doesn't mean the hospital's supporters should be complacent. The crowded November ballot means getting positive word out about the measure is more important than ever.

*The one above features Saratoga City Councilmember and Santa Clara Family Health Foundation Exec. Director Kathleen King, Heffernan Insurance's Joseph Talmadge, TBI Development's and VMC Foundation Chair Leah Toeniskoetter, and County Supervisor Ken Yeager.

A Day in the Sky for kids in San Jose...

Saturday, August 9, was an amazing day for kids with special needs who came to the VMC Foundation's "Day In the Sky" event.

Truly, I'm humbled that the VMC Foundation was even associated with this event...we were the main fiscal sponsors, for sure, but hats are WAY off to Dean McCully and Lisa Bickford who organized the bulk of the work, and without whom it would NOT have happened.

Hundreds of children with autism, ADHD, and lots of other challenges soared above Silicon Valley thanks to dozens of voluteer pilots, including Chris Malachowski, who founded Nvidia and who also owns and flies a helecoptor. Chris and his family are also generous donors to the VMC Foundation's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The San Jose Mercury News covered the big event, starting below...but read the full story - you'll be totally inspired, and thrilled that VMC Foundation volunteers like Dean and Lisa are looking out for kids in our community. Check it out:

Emerging from a Cessna that had finished flitting over Silicon Valley's treetops and tilt-ups, 16-year-old Ryan Brown's first-ever jaunt in a small plane made him give an excited little jump when asked if it was fun.

"It sure was," shouted the soon-to-be 10th-grader at San Jose's Del Mar High. According to his mom, Moira Brown, Ryan suffers from autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Noting that the pilot allowed him to briefly operate the controls, the teen added, "The best thing about it was learning to fly."

Mission accomplished for the organizers of "Take Flight for Kids," hosted Saturday at San Jose's Reid-Hillview Airport by the Valley Medical Center Foundation.

VMC Idol rocks Silicon Valley!

Friday night was the third year of VMC Idol, the SCVHHS's own singing competition...and another great one indeed! Not only does that staff at your public hospital system save lives and protect our health, they can SING!

Congratulations to our winner Ricia Baumgardner for her great version of "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera. Coming in second was Maria Isla and her sassy rendition of La Quinta Estacion's "El Sol No Regresa". Our bronze medalists were Melissa Noto and Rick Lee doing "Way Back into Love"...which you can see here!

There are so many people to thank for making this fun-fund raiser possible: Our amazing staff at the VMC Foundation and the staff of VMC's rehab center, our volunteers, the Heritage Theater in Campbell, the singers who tried out and who competed, and of course our judges Dr. Akshat Shah, Carole Adler and County Supervisor Ken Yeager.

Dr. Steve Harris, VMC's chair of pediatrics served as emcee, Bob Shea did a great job behind the board, and Luis and Connie captured it all on video and film. Personally, my beer glass it tipped to the Idol Hands Band in which I'm rediculously proud to play bass...great job guys!

A great night...but do I have to drive?

A HUGE thanks to the Silicon Valley Business Travel Association for throwing a super party Friday night: Vino & Vistas, held at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club was a thing to behold! First, the wine was fabulous. Second, the auction items were amazing. Third, and more amazing: David Garibaldi!
That's him painting John Lennon - while the crowd cheered and The Beatles music played...six minutes later, and he's done. Astounding.

After auctioning David's paintings (thanks to all who bid), the Grand Finale of the evening: Pulling the winning raffle ticket for the Model A Shay. Trouble was, the winner was NOT in the room, which of course meant someone had to drive the 1929-replica car back to its covered garage.

You guessed it. Me!

Fun? Sure, but challenging: No insturment panel lights in an antique car, and with the windsreen coming up to my neck, hearing the engine was tough. I shifted gears using guesswork and vibration...all the time glad that Valley Medical Center was nearby, with it's top trauma team at the ready.

I'm kidding - sort of. Seriously, THANKS to all the volunteers, our staff, and all who made VINO & VISTAS 2008 a huge success!

Hooray for FISH!

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday was our big "Festival of Books" - part of the VMC Foundation's Reach Out and Read Program. Did you know our pediatricians give away free books to every young child during their checkups at all SCVMC's clinics? We're talking thousands of books every month, helping send the message that literacy is PART of good health! First 5 Santa Clara County is our big champion on this program, and we sure appreciate them.

Anyway, yesterday in front of VMC, we held a great festival with scores of kids making books, eating healthy snacks, listening to stories read by our top MD's and VMC Foundation Board Chair Leah, and ME...yes, I got to read my new favorite book "Hooray for Fish!"

Stripy fish, ele-fish, happyfish...one young mom brought her identical quadruplet boys to hear the story (she's some kind of superhero). Three of the boys were busy running around VMC's lawn, but one was transfixed by my crazy reading skills. Then, at the end of the book, I was paid the highest compliment you can get from a 3-year-old:

"Again!"

What a great day - thanks to Loralie, Al, Steve, Leah, and all the great volunteers who made it such a success. We'll do this event "again!"

The season's best party, at a time when help is most needed

At the VMC Foundation, we work to ensure you know why your donation makes such a difference: The Santa Clara Valley Heatlh & Hospital System, your community's safety net, is struggling to serve literally thousands of people every day that seek medical care across Silicon Valley...at a time when resources are scarce.

But we also work to make it FUN to support us - so, please join us for Vino & Vistas!

This amazing party happens May 9 at the stunning Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose. We'll be pouring the finest wines in the Santa Cruz Mountains, serve you a sumptuous dinner, and provide entertainment that will leave you breathless.

The cost is just $125 - a bargain for what the Mercury News called one of the best events of 2007. For your tickets, and more information, click here: www.vmcfoundation.org/vinoandvistas

Don't miss this spectacular event - and feel free to call us with any questions: 408-885-5299. Thanks!