The Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America group at Alton High School donated 165 port pillows to the AMH Cancer and Infusion Center on Jan. 31. One of the FCCLA advisers, Regina Birch, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of the school year, inspiring the club to organize a community service project. The group has also raised more than $1,000 for the Alton Memorial Health Services Foundation's "You've Got a Friend" fund and the Siteman Cancer Center Foundation for Research.

Carl Draper, who logged more than 40,000 hours as a volunteer at Alton Memorial Hospital since he started in 1998, passed away Jan. 30 at the age of 82.

Morrison Food & Nutrition at Alton Memorial Hospital have begun using advanced technology to obtain patient meal orders at bedside. A software program called My Dining allows the café staff to transition away from the manual process of taking orders. The staff instead uses iPads with the My Dining software to ensure the inpatients are getting what they need – and nothing they don’t need.

Eunice Smith Home, the skilled nursing and rehabilitation community that has been serving the senior communities of Alton, Godfrey and the Riverbend area for 53 years, is now known as Alton Memorial Rehabilitation & Therapy.

Rachel Lair has been named the new EMS coordinator at Alton Memorial Hospital. The job is to act as a liaison between the agencies in the Alton Memorial EMS system and the State of Illinois.

Dr. Laura Hill is the winner of the 2019 Alton Memorial Hospital Chairman’s Award. Dr. Hill, a pediatrician with Pediatric HealthCare Unlimited on the AMH campus, was honored at the annual Physicians Appreciation Reception, held recently at the Schlafly Tap Room in St. Louis. The Chairman’s Award publicly acknowledges a member of the AMH medical staff for the contributions the physician makes to the hospital and community, active participation in hospital and medical staff departmental affairs, and the promotion and practice of outstanding customer service with hospital patients and staff.

Alton Memorial Hospital and BJC Medical Group are expanding their presence in Madison County with a new medical office building in Bethalto that opened for business Aug. 26.

Alton Memorial Hospital added Dr. Bindu Patel, MD, to the medical staff on Aug. 12. Dr. Patel is with Alton OB/GYN Associates, located in Suite 125 of Medical Office Building B on the AMH campus. To make an appointment, call 618-433-6410.

Alton Memorial Hospital has added Dr. Matthew Musielak, MD, to its medical staff with Alton Surgery. He is also a member of BJC Medical Group. Alton Surgery is located at 4 Memorial Drive (Medical Office Building B), Suite 230B, on the AMH campus. For an appointment, call 618-462-3191.

Dr. David Harmon, MD, a board-certified physician specializing in palliative medicine, has joined the staff at Alton Memorial Hospital. As a part of the palliative care team, he will provide comprehensive services to help relieve the pain, symptoms and burden of serious illness for patients and their families. He is a member of BJC Medical Group.