WATERBURY – Ruth Veneziano the office manager at Alliance Medical Group, an affiliate of Waterbury Hospital, recently became a “fan” of Waterbury Hospital on its brand new Facebook page – then encouraged her daughter Emily, 17, a senior at Sacred Heart High School, to do the same. Her timing couldn’t have been more perfect, because as Emily clicked the “Become a Fan” of Waterbury Hospital icon while logged onto Facebook, she became the hospital’s 500^th fan.

CLICK HERE to become a fan.

Waterbury Hospital recently held a contest for its employees to register as “fans” on its Facebook page, offering a Valentine’s Day bagt stuffed with thematic goodies to the winner.

“We developed a hospital Facebook page as a way for both our employees and our guests, visitors, patients and the general public to keep abreast of what is going on at Waterbury Hospital,” said Heather Tindall, Waterbury Hospital’s Director of Public Relations, Media Relations and Marketing. “Not only did we reach 500 “fans” with our contest, but we’ve now actually exceeded 600 “fans.”” Tindall credits this response to the fact that hospital employees encouraged their friends and family to sign up. She concluded, “We are just ecstatic! The response to this initiative and the enthusiasm of our employees has been phenomenal.”

Tindall said that the hospital’s Facebook page contains information on a wide array of topics ranging from the dates and times of upcoming free educational presentations, to registration information for the hospital’s upcoming Pilates, Tai Chi and weight lifting classes. Additionally, she said the page contains current hospital-related medical and technological updates, information on medical staff and clinical offerings, photos of hospital events like the hospital’s gala as well as photos of employees recognized for awards or accomplishments, job postings and much more.

Waterbury Hospital has donated two ultrasound machines and other hospital equipment valued at more than $200,000 to help bring medical relief to overburdened hospitals in developing countries such as Guatamala, the Dominican Republic and earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

The equipment, some of which is more than 20 years old and has been replaced at Waterbury Hospital with more modern technology, will prove to be highly useful and beneficial to the hospitals which will be receiving it, said Jean Assobmo, a biomedical engineer for the American Medical Resources Foundation, the Massachusetts-based organization which accepted the donated equipment from Waterbury Hospital this week.

“We are very grateful to Waterbury Hospital for making this donation possible,” he said.

Assobmo said the equipment will be part of a shipment being sent to hospitals in the Dominican Republic and Guatamala next week. It’s also possible the equipment could be sent to Haiti, which is recovering from a devastating earthquake that has led to an intense demand for medical relief.

Frank Vensel, the Director of Clinical Engineering for Waterbury Hospital, said the two donated ultrasound machines are highly functional and efficient in treating a wide variety of health issues, including heart problems and troubled pregnancies.

“We could not be more pleased that these pieces of equipment will continue to be put to good use,” Vensel said.

Mary Prybylo, RN, the Chief Operating Officer at Waterbury Hospital, said the donations reflect the hospital’s mission to serve and treat people in medical distress, no matter where they are.

“This is a wonderful way to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said.