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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK A bunch of birdies, some double bogeys and a few eagles are paving the way for new hospital equipment at St. Luke’s Wood River. The 2022 Rally for the Valley golf tourney lured 104 golfers to Elkhorn Golf Course on a beautiful summer morning this week to raise money for a new nimble $75,000 state-of-the-art bedside ultrasound for the hospital’s Mother/Baby Department. “We are desperately in need of a new ultrasound. They call the old one ‘the crib’ because it’s so hard to move from room to room,” said Megan Tanous, who heads up St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation. “Plus, the pictures in the new one will be so much clearer than with the older one so they’ll enable nurses and physicians to see more anatomical detail with greater certainty.”
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Debra Wood lets it rip as her teammates—Karen Davis, Lauren Cassill and Nancy Thomas—look on.
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The annual Rally for the Valley, now in its fifth year, grew out of the Susan G. Komen golf tourney that was held in Sun Valley eight years ago to raise money to deal with breast cancer. The golfers decided they wanted funds raised to stay in the valley and so redirected their efforts to St. Luke’s Wood River. In 2019—the last year the tournament was held before COVID pandemic put it on hiatus--the tournament raised $60,000 from player’s fees and the raffling of prizes from such donors as AC Houston, Moss Garden Center, S&C wines, Farmer’s Daughter, Sun Valley Company, Towne and Park Jewelry, La Cabanita and the Grill at Knob Hill. The money that year gave St. Luke’s Wood River Emergency Services endowment a shot in the arm. The year before, the tournament raised $37,000 for a new MRI for the Imaging Center. The tournament helped fund the infusion center in 2016.
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John Manocheo puts as his teammates Tom Osenton, Matt Davis and Jim Wood (not pictured) look on.
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“We’re one of St. Luke’s big fundraisers,” said Marilyn Hoffman. “Our main purpose is to purchase equipment that’s needed. They really rely on us.” This year the tournament was opened to men, and plenty of men proudly took their place on men’s teams and mixed double teams. The addition of men boosted the numbers. “I love it,” said Fritz Hoffman. “Before, I only had the opportunity to buy raffle tickets.” More than 300 babies are born at St. Luke’s Wood River each year, and the hospital is seeing a spike this year, said Tanous. The new ultrasound will give doctors a chance to look for abnormal fetal development or other problems with the placenta, uterus or amniotic fluid and check the mother’s health.
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Fritz Hoffman, Jim Briscoe, Toni LeClercq, Marilyn Hoffman and Jody Aoki enjoyed pulled pork and hamburger sliders during the post-tourney party, along with Sun Valley’s famous cookies and brownies.
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Betsy Mullins, the development manager for St. Luke’s Wood River, said the foundation is grateful for players’ support. “We’ve seen this grow in numbers and enthusiasm, and it give the community a chance to learn about the needs of the hospital,” she said. “We were the first to sign up,” said Debra Wood. “It’s a lot of fun and for a good cause.” FEMALE WINNERS
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The first team to sign up for this year’s Rally the Valley was composed of Karen Davis, Nancy Thomas, Lauren Cassill and Debra Wood.
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First—Jackie Damerel, Hailey Cutler, Janet Bostwick and Janie Rothschild with a score of 54. Second—Linda Peterson, Wendy Bradshaw, Nini Sakaguchi and Gail Klemencic with a score of 55. Third—Sally Demetre, Jennifer Harper, Jan Swanstrom and Teddie Harper with a score of 57. Fourth—Deb Sievers, Pat Mcginnis, Lori Ransohoff and Jean Tagliapietra with a tie-breaker score of 58.
MEN’S WINNERS First--John Manocheo, Tom Osenton, Matt Davis and Jim Wood with a score of 54. MIXED TEAMS First—Bonnie Hovencamp, Tish Jochums, Elaine Ingram and Zach Jonas with a score of 53.
Second—Leslie Jiranek, Geoffrey Jiranek, Susan Plutsky and Melvin Plutsky with a score of 54. CLOSEST TO THE PIN Frankie Freeze—Women’s No. 3 Debbie Wood—Women’s No. 6
Susan Plutsky, Women’s No. 11. Phil Doerflein, Men’s No. 14
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