The Vandalia woman visits nearly all of the organizations that apply for grants. Just last year 58 of them were awarded, totaling more than $640,000 in funding. Those grants have paid for projects involving nutrition, home renovations, service dogs, medical office equipment, diapers, clothing and a wide variety of other items and programs.
“Improving the healthcare of the underserved in our community is something the PCF board and I take as an honor,” she said.
After nearly eight years at the foundation, Sheehan plans to retire in May. Looking back on her career both there and, before that, more than 40 years as a nurse at Dayton Children’s Hospital, Sheehan said an urge to improve life for all children attracted her to both positions.
She knew shortly after starting nursing school that she wanted to focus on pediatrics. She worked in a variety of areas, including the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, before helping to start the hospital’s palliative home care program. She found the one-on-one care that she provided rewarding, and she became director of clinical services for Dayton Children’s Home Care.
She retired as a nurse but soon found that she wanted something else to do. A friend told her about the position at the Physicians’ Charitable Foundation and urged her to apply. This job, too, has been rewarding – including the ability to meet so many local people who are working in the background to help improve their community, she said.
The foundation provides grants to organizations in Montgomery, Miami, Greene, Darke, Clark, Preble and Warren counties. Funding is available to nonprofit organizations that serve the community’s health care needs in some way, and grants are awarded twice each year. The foundation’s board is comprised of 15 doctors that represent three of the local hospital systems.
“It’s a group of physicians who really care about what’s going on in the community,” Sheehan said.
One of them is Dr. Alonzo Patterson III, the chief medical health equity officer at Dayton Children’s Hospital and a community pediatrician who nominated Sheehan as a Dayton Daily News Community Gem.
“The more we take care of each other, the better we’re going to be,” said Patterson, whom Sheehan asked to join the foundation’s advisory committee.
The two had first met when they were both working at the hospital, and he praised her ability to connect the community and facilitate getting their needs met.
“She’s a true community advocate,” he said. “She wants people to move forward in life.”
After her retirement, Sheehan has family to visit and a stack of books to read, and she would eventually like to travel. But her time at the foundation has shown her the number of local organizations that are making an impact that need not only money, but also time.
“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful job,” she said.
About the Author