WEST BRANCH – Providing for the health and well-being of the West Branch community for years, Pastor J. Daniel Stoneback and Pete Jackson have been selected to co-chair MidMichigan Medical Center – West Branch’s Love Light Trees event. Contributions to the MidMichigan Health Foundation from this event will support equipment needs and patient enhancements, or can also be designated to Healthaccess, which serves the uninsured and underinsured.
“For many years we had a program called Life Lights, where individuals could pay tribute to a loved one, and light a bulb on the Christmas tree outside of the Medical Arts Center,” explained Pastor Stoneback. “This year we have integrated the Life Lights program with the annual Love Light Trees program of the MidMichigan Health Foundation. It should be an awesome sight to see the large pine tree just outside the main entrance to MidMichigan Medical Center – West Branch, lit as a living tribute to our loved ones.”
“It is so heartwarming to see how the memories of the past live on through these tribute donations given to lighten the burden of others,” added Jackson.
Jackson is the Healthaccess Coordinator for MidMichigan Medical Center – West Branch, where he has worked for 36 years. In his job as Healthaccess Coordinator, he is positioned to provide multiple resources to the less fortunate or to those facing sudden difficulties.
Love Light Trees’ co-chair, Pastor Stoneback is another icon of the West Branch community and of MidMichigan Medical Center – West Branch. He is the current chair of the MidMichigan Medical Center – West Branch Board of Directors and has served on various other committees and community organizations. Pastor Stoneback is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and recently retired as pastor of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Rose City.
Together, Pastor Stoneback and Jackson will emcee the Love Light Trees ceremony. This year’s lighting ceremony will be Monday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m., outside the Medical Center’s main entrance in West Branch. Refreshments will be served following the ceremony.
Those interested in more information or who wish to donate to the MidMichigan Health Foundation for West Branch’s Love Light Trees program may visit www.midmichigan.org/lovelighttrees or contact the MidMichigan Health Foundation at 989-343-3694.
The MidMichigan Health Foundation supports the patients and families served by MidMichigan Health by raising funds for equipment, services and programs. MidMichigan Health is a non-profit health system headquartered in Midland, affiliated with Michigan Medicine, the health care division of the University of Michigan. MidMichigan Health covers a 23-county region with medical centers in Midland, Alpena, Alma, Clare, Gladwin, Mt. Pleasant and West Branch.
In addition to its Medical Centers, MidMichigan Health also offers both home health care and physician services, and has a strong commitment to medical education. MidMichigan Physicians Group provides urgent care and medical offices in more than 30 specialties and subspecialties including cardiology, hematology/oncology, orthopedics, vascular surgery, family medicine and more. Currently, MidMichigan has more than 7,800 employees, volunteers and physicians and provided $90 million in community benefits in fiscal year 2017.
