For Immediate  Release	Contact: Lynne Ayres
December 20, 2002	614-221-7614
	lynnea@ohanet.org

New Members Elected to The Foundation Board

COLUMBUS—The Foundation for Healthy Communities, sponsored by the Ohio Hospital Association, welcomes new members to its Board of Directors.  The Foundation supports community projects that promote healthy lifestyles.  The Board of Directors for 2003 was elected in the fall with three new members joining the Board in January. 

Elected as 2003 members of the Foundation Board:

• Karen Bankston, RN, MSN, PhD candidate, Vice President of Operations, The University Hospital, Cincinnati

• David R. Lang, Vice President of Finance, Lodi Community Hospital

• Michael J. Maiberger, FACHE, Executive Vice President and COO, The UVMC Health System, Troy

Current Foundation Board Officers:

• Chair: Philip Hearing, President and CEO, Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center

• Vice Chair: Patsy Matheny, Community Health Improvement, VHA.Inc.

• Secretary/Treasurer: Jan Ruma, Director of Healthy Communities Foundation, Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio

The Foundation would also like to thank retiring Board member, James Kingsbury, President and CEO of the Fort Hamilton Hospital, Hamilton and immediate Past Chair, Thomas R. Childs, FACHE, COO, Holzer Medical Center, Gallipolis.

The Foundation for Healthy communities was created and endowed by Ohio hospitals in 1994 to promote creative collaborations for better health.  The 90 projects funded so far for more than $850,000 have provided community health needs assessments, disease and violence prevention, infant and end of life care and other health improvement programs.  Visit the Foundation’s web site at www.ohanet.org/healthycommunites/. 

The Foundation is an arm of the Ohio Hospital Association.  OHA represents more than 170 hospitals and 40 health systems with more than 200,000 employees throughout Ohio.  OHA’s mission is to provide leadership by working with members to meet the health care needs and improve the health status of the communities they serve.

Visit OHA’s web site at www.ohanet.org.

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