Together forever: Husband and wife take their last breath within hours of each other

Dawn Morehouse entered the hospital room and sat down beside a patient suffering from COVID. His chest X-rays showed his accompanying pneumonia was spreading and his oxygen levels were dropping so low he would soon require intubation. Knowing this, the patient said he decided to discontinue treatment. As a Memorial Hospital...

Walls of Gratitude show community support at Beacon hospitals, urgent care locations

Hundreds of members of our community have sent notes of encouragement, gift cards and other expressions of thanks as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued, and the Beacon Health System team could not be more grateful. The Beacon Health Foundation has compiled the hundreds of letters into Walls of Gratitude at Community...

KeyBank generously donates Sunburst sponsorship to Beacon Children’s Hospital

Despite the cancelation of the Sunburst Races this past summer, KeyBank has generously donated its presenting sponsorship funding to Beacon Children’s Hospital. This donation will ensure the continuation of the Child Life Program, which supports young patients and their families during hospital visits. In addition to this $25,000 donation, the Cleveland-based...

Elkhart General RT describes “personal struggle of fortitude and perseverance”

Randy Stouder has worked as a Respiratory Therapist for more than 40 years, including 19 years at Beacon. Since February, Randy has cared for COVID patients in the Emergency Room, Intermediate Critical Care, Medical floors and Intensive Care units at Elkhart General Hospital.  "To accurately describe what is happening in our...

Beacon gives out more than 5,000 turkeys, donates 2,200 to local charities

To thank them for all their hard work and dedication over the past year, Beacon Health System last week handed out more than 5,000 turkeys to our team members.  “In a year where our healthcare heroes have given all they have and more to fight COVID-19,” said Beacon Health System...

Beacon upgrading Memorial parking terminals to limit spread of COVID-19, flu

Starting December 1, 2020, three Memorial Hospital garages will use new, automatic parking terminals. This system will allow for more efficient flow in and out of the garages, and will help limit the potential exposure of associates, patients and visitors to infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 and flu. If you park...

Beacon expands partnership with Pediatrix and Obstetrix Medical Groups of Indiana for obstetrical hospitalist care

Obstetrix Medical Group of Indiana will begin providing obstetrical hospitalist physician coverage in February 2021 at Memorial Hospital of South Bend. Obstetrix Medical Group currently provides high-risk maternal-fetal medicine coverage at Memorial, and for nearly 40 years, Pediatrix Medical Group has provided neonatal coverage at Memorial’s internationally recognized Newborn Intensive...

Beacon redeploys nurses, providers to support near-record levels of COVID patients at hospitals

Beacon Health continues to have near-record levels of inpatient admissions with significant stress on its providers and staff throughout the organization. The health system is redeploying nursing staff and providers from outpatient areas to support its acute care facilities because of this. Many nonclinical staff members are also volunteering to...

Final moments with a COVID patient: “I try to be their support until the end”

Amber Hodges, an Elkhart General Hospital registered respiratory therapist, shares her perspective about caring for COVID patients who are about to die. "I honestly didn’t think this was going to be any worse than the flu. I just figured it was going to be something we could get under control fast....