NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Jill E. McCormick, Director, Marketing & Planning
St. Edward Mercy Health System
Phone: 479-314-6037
Email: jill.mccormick@mercy.net

30,000 Lights to Shine at Ninth-Annual Medical Center Lighting

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: St. Edward Mercy Medical Center, Centers of Excellence Lobby
What: St. Edward Mercy Auxiliary hosts ninth-annual lighting ceremony
Special Requests: If taking pictures of local school children, please check in with Jill McCormick prior to taking the picture.

Fort Smith, Ark. – November 13, 2009 – Almost 30,000 lights will be lit at the ninth-annual St. Edward Mercy Medical Center Lighting Ceremony at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 19 at the Centers of Excellence lobby. All are invited to attend. The Lighting Ceremony is hosted by the St. Edward Mercy Auxiliary.

Activities include Christmas carols sung by students at Woods Elementary and a visit by Santa Claus. After the program, the lights around the Medical Center will be turned on for the remainder of the holiday season. Approximately 17,000 lights adorn the building and 12,000 lights are placed outside the campus on trees, etc.

The St. Edward Mercy Auxiliary was founded in 1906 and has 125 men and women members. Projects of the Auxiliary include Helping Hands for Children, the Cuddler Program, Mercy Go-Getters Shuttle Service, serving coffee to guests in waiting areas, operating the Sunshine Gift Shop and Sunshine Café, making baby bonnets for all newborns, and serving as oncology hosts. The Auxiliary is a volunteer organization that extends the “Hands of Mercy” and supports the St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in improving the quality of life for the communities served.

St. Edward Mercy Medical Center, the flagship hospital of the St. Edward Mercy Health System, is located in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and serves over 400,000 residents in 13 counties. The Health System also includes three satellite facilities: Mercy Hospital/Turner Memorial in Ozark; North Logan Mercy Hospital in Paris, and Mercy Hospital of Scott County in Waldron. Additionally, the system includes medical clinics in Charleston, Fort Smith, Mansfield, Paris, Van Buren, and Waldron.

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