QMG Foundation: Creating Lasting Impact

Nicole Mason is the Surgery and Vas­cu­lar Surgery Coor­di­na­tor and Dr. Tim­o­thy Smith’s nurse at QMG and serves as the QMG Foun­da­tion Board pres­i­dent. In her roles, she sees the QMG Foun­da­tion’s mis­sion mak­ing a tremen­dous impact through­out the community. 

Nicole shared, ​“From sup­port­ing oncol­o­gy patients to help­ing grad­u­ates pur­sue fur­ther edu­ca­tion to fund­ing impact­ful com­mu­ni­ty projects, our efforts are tru­ly mak­ing a difference.”

Nicole can­not dis­cuss the sig­nif­i­cant impact of the Foun­da­tion with­out men­tion­ing its two major fundrais­ers: Can­cer Crush and the Bridge the Gap to Health Race. These events sup­port sev­er­al of the Foun­da­tion’s ini­tia­tives, includ­ing Com­mu­ni­ty Impact Grants, Com­mu­ni­ty Impact Projects, and patient assistance.

“Wit­ness­ing the sto­ries of our oncol­o­gy patients and the relief we’re able to pro­vide — both emo­tion­al­ly and finan­cial­ly — is incred­i­ble,” shared Nicole. ​“It’s moments like these that remind you just how much of a dif­fer­ence we’re mak­ing in peo­ple’s lives.” 

Beyond the fundrais­ers, Nicole explained how exten­sive the Foun­da­tion’s impact is, ​“We sup­port local food pantries, pro­vide vouch­ers for the Farm­ers Mar­ket, and offer schol­ar­ships in both Quin­cy and rur­al areas. Addi­tion­al­ly, the Tim Haley Fund Line offers cru­cial sup­port to fam­i­lies of minors with heart con­di­tions — help­ing cov­er gas and lodg­ing expens­es when they need to trav­el out of town for spe­cial­ized care.”

The Dr. Michael K. Ouwen­ga Schol­ar­ship, which awards two annu­al schol­ar­ships to Quin­cy high school­ers pur­su­ing fur­ther edu­ca­tion in the med­ical field, is dear to her heart. ​“I had the priv­i­lege of work­ing with the late Dr. Michael Ouwen­ga, and I know first­hand how deeply he cared for his patients and cowork­ers,” shared Nicole. ​“See­ing his mis­sion con­tin­ue through this schol­ar­ship is some­thing I will always cherish.”

Nicole is very proud of the work of the board and the Foun­da­tion, ​“Benev­o­lence is a core val­ue of mine, and our board embod­ies that spir­it whole­heart­ed­ly. I am more than will­ing to ded­i­cate my time to our patients and com­mu­ni­ty — this is a com­mit­ment that should nev­er waver.”