Take a look at early photos of the UCSF-Mount Zion Medical Center Auxiliary, and you’ll see images bearing little resemblance to what the organization has become.
One picture shows a group of ladies in feathered hats and lace collars drinking tea from a silver service. Another has young uniformed members standing at attention in front of a man in a suit.
The Mount Zion Ladies’ Auxiliary, as it was known then, celebrated its 100th anniversary with a dinner in late April. It has gone through many incarnations since the days of high tea and candy-stripers, but one thing has remained constant: a commitment to serving the hospital.
“I think that’s part of our whole Jewish heritage,” said Samele Samuel, auxiliary president from 1969 to 1971. “We care for anyone who needs it.”
Mount Zion Hospital was founded in 1887 to serve the Jewish community of San Francisco at a time when Jewish patients and doctors weren’t always welcome at other hospitals. When the auxiliary was created 10 years later, its members were primarily women from San Francisco’s “high Jewish society,” many of whom were wives of the hospital’s doctors.
Early duties included things like cutting bandages and paying social calls to patients. Fund-raising activities were minimal.
“During a time when women weren’t working [outside the home], they were able to give to the community in a lovely way,” said Karen Wener, the auxiliary’s current president.
In the early 1950s, however, the auxiliary’s agenda changed from being mostly social and ceremonial to active, including a great deal of fund-raising.
Rosabelle Tobriner, president from 1953 to 1955, believes that the changes in the group’s activities are indicative of similar changes in women’s roles elsewhere.
“At the time when I was president, there was a change in society. Heretofore, this had been the only opportunity to give of our talents and kindness and reach out to other human beings. We had no real significance in the day-to-day events of the hospital,” she said.
“Now,” Tobriner added, “we are given the opportunity to help with developing new programs. As the role of women changed, we began to emerge as active partners in the hospital.”
The auxiliary’s membership has continued to evolve, keeping up with the changes around it. The incoming president works full time outside the home, as do many board members. Several years ago, a man served as board president.
The board has also expanded its roster to include less affluent members, said Wener. And of course, there were external changes — such as in 1990, when the hospital merged with UCSF and ceased to be a Jewish community institution.
Still, the auxiliary’s Jewish bent has remained. In 100 years, Wener reports, there has never been a non-Jewish board president.
Fund-raising took off in the early 1960s, focusing mostly on such elite events as dinners, dances and masquerade balls. More recently, the board has opted for more family-oriented activities, such as last year’s fund-raiser with the Cirque du Soleil.
The auxiliary has raised a significant amount of money over the years. In 1997, it raised more than $70,000, which department heads then bid on for different projects.
The 100th anniversary dinner in April netted the organization $105,000, the most it has ever raised at a single event.
Dollar figures, however, haven’t let the auxiliary lose sight of its primary mission — serving the patients.
“We do everything from helping a patient who needs a taxi ride to buying amazing equipment for diagnostic evaluation,” said Wener.
For many years, the auxiliary was also responsible for all volunteer activities in the hospital. A full-time volunteer coordinator now handles that, but Wener and others would like to see a return to more active participation by auxiliary members.
Other auxiliary activities have included several forays into the retail world. A gift shop founded by members still does a thriving business at the hospital, and in September, the auxiliary will open a shop there dedicated to supplies for cancer patients.
In the last 20 years, two events have had significant effect on the hospital and the auxiliary.
One was the tremendous influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union during the 1980s. Samuel remembers a number of the newly arrived coming in to volunteer and to learn English. At Mount Zion, she said, some who had served as health-care professionals in the Soviet Union were able to gain the skills and experience necessary to later work in the United States.
The other event involved mergers, first with UCSF in 1990 and then with Stanford last year.
“Health care is changing,” Samuel said. “We can’t stay a hospital just taking care of Jews. We can’t hang on to yesterday. We need to look toward tomorrow.”