Drama in The Pastures at Volunteers in Medicine Benefit

Posted by: Bess Hochstein
Posted on: Monday, August 15, 2011

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Full Article

Rural Intelligence Parties and Openings Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Southfield, Massachusetts.
Supporters of Volunteers in Medicine, which operates a clinic in Great Barrington that provides free healthcare to low-income, uninsured Berkshire workers and residents, gathered at The Pastures during the ‘golden hour’ on Thursday, August 11, for VIM’s annual benefit. After receiving a heart-felt greeting from VIM board vice chairman Matt Mandel and host Bridget Ford Hughes (left), guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the brilliant sunshine before scattering to dinner parties at private homes across South County. Also on the pre-dinner agenda was a “services auction,” providing an opportunity for supporters to subsidize various VIM services – ranging from prescriptions for all patients for six months to a single patient visit – preceded by personal accounts by VIM patients of their experiences at the clinic. Unfortunately, one patron collapsed before the auction began. Fortunately, there was a doctor in the house – more than a few of them, actually – and the patron was well tended until the ambulance arrived. The evening went on, but the auction, which typically accounts for half of the revenue generated by VIM’s annual gala — the organization’s largest fundraising event — was suspended. Word arrived that the guest is at home and doing fine, and that supporters can still “bid” on VIM services online.

Rural Intelligence Parties and Openings
VIM board chair Arthur Piesner and Susan Piesner; CATA founder Sandy Newman and gala chair Jane Salamon.

Rural Intelligence Parties and Openings
VIM development consultant Dave Barrett, publicist Gina Hyams, and psychiatrist Jesse Goodman; Susie Weeks with her summer guests David Sanchez and J.J. Allen Thomas.

Rural Intelligence Parties and Openings
Jim Rosenstein and Anne MacDonald; VIM client Demetrio Gomez and VIM medical assistant and interpreter Gladis Rave.

Rural Intelligence Parties and Openings
Elise Richman, Shirley Mueller, VIM board member Michael Richman, and Lisa Cohen.

Rural Intelligence Parties and Openings
Author Efrem Sigel with VIM board member and health coach Nancy Fernandez Mills; host and sculptor Jonathan Prince with Rose Levine, who manages the farmers’ markets in Great Barrington and Lenox.

Rural Intelligence Parties and Openings
Executive recruiter Doug Shufelt and realtor Nancy Kalodner; Betty Reba and Nancy Feldman Edman.