The Women’s Board of Summa Health was a philanthropic service and fundraising organization whose mission was to advance patient care and comfort.

From its initiation in 1892 to its dissolution in 2025, the Women’s Board and its predecessors contributed more than $8.5 million dollars to the hospital system. In recognition of this support, the Board was awarded the Boniface DeRoo Award for Philanthropy in June 2019; Summa’s highest philanthropic honor. In addition to the Board’s monetary support, its members volunteered more than 350,000 hours of service.

History

The Women's Board of Summa Health was initiated in 1892. Then called the “Ladies Auxiliary,” the organization was created – according to local newspaper accounts – to “raise a portion of the money needed to carry on the hospital work and to maintain oversight of the hospital work peculiar to women. “The Women’s Board" was founded in 1922 as the “Women’s Auxiliary Board of Akron City Hospital”. In 1958, a subsidiary Junior Board was founded by the Auxiliary Board to serve the hospital, to provide financial assistance and to stimulate interest in the hospital among younger women. The Junior Board and the Women’s Auxiliary Board consolidated in 2007. In 2022 the Women’s Board of Summa Health celebrated 100 years of service to the Summa Health System.

The original goal of the Women’s Auxiliary Board was to provide a Free Bed Fund for patients who could not pay their medical bills. One of the first fundraising projects was the annual community-wide Tag Day, beginning in 1909. The first Rummage Sale was held in 1930 with net proceeds of $758.45. Its subsequent 152 sales became legendary, drawing thousands of people for decades and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. During World War II, members met monthly to sew linens for the hospital. Until 2013, the Art Committee matted, framed and hung pictures throughout the hospital’s public areas. In 1958, the Chapel Committee converted a small room on the first floor of the hospital to a chapel for use of patients and families.

• Capital Funds, Equipment, Furnishings, Building, Supplies: $5,800,000
• Women’s Health: $684,000
• Patient Support Services: $482,000
• Medical Education: $1,122,000
• Community Outreach: $50,000

Examples of the Board’s support noted above include funding for camisoles and robes for breast cancer patients, annual scholarships for nurses, and the beloved pet therapy WAGtime program, as well as several aspects of Summa’s multidisciplinary care programs, including the Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Center for Breast Health, the Center for Health Equity, the Jean and Milton Cooper Cancer Pavilion, the Juve Family Behavioral Health Pavilion and the Ann and David Brennan Critical Care Pavilion.

The Memorial Research fund (originally called the “Flower Fund”) consisted of contributions that were made in memory of or in honor of an individual or occasion. The fund’s main purpose was to support medical research that was approved by Summa Health’s administration and medical staff. A project recently funded was the purchase of two Snoo Bassinets for opiate addicted infants. 

Since the fund’s inception in 1960, more than $175,000 has been contributed.

The Gift Shop

Commemorating the Women’s Board of Summa Health

To learn more about the Women’s Board of Summa Health and their legacy, visit the display and timeline located across from the Gift Shop in the Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Tower.