Picture cupcakes, champagne, and jewelry all together for one night of fellowship and enjoyment. No, it isn’t a fantasy. All three items have come together for the cause of supporting the Medical Foundation of Chattanooga in the first ever Bubbles, Bites & Bling event.
On September 17 at 7 p.m., at the Loose Cannon Studios, these elements will come together along with hors d’oeuvres, tunes by jazz act the Robert Crabtree Trio, and dancing heralded by DJ Gene Lovin from Sunny 92.3. In between, local bakeries will offer some of their best cupcakes for attendees to sample and vote for a favorite along with celebrity judges, including Amanda Buchanan from Buchanan and Associates, Mark Ramsey, Sonia Young, Jimmy Adams, Warren Barnett from Bennett and Company, and Rhonda Catanzaro, a local educator. Bakeries participating in the cupcake contest are Chattanooga Cupcakes, Gigi’s Cupcakes, Belle’s Cupcakes and Whipped Cupcakes.
Rone Regency Jewelers will also have a trunk show on site with jewelry available for purchase. Funds raised at this event, organized by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society, Medical Foundation of Chattanooga, and Medical Alliance, will go to benefit programs within the Medical Foundation of Chattanooga like Project Access and Youth Leadership Forum: Careers in Medicine. The Medical Society was founded in 1883 and is a physician membership organization with over 1,000 members in Hamilton County, says Rae Bond, the executive director of the Medical Society and Medical Foundation. The two goals as an organization are to advocate on behalf of physicians on policy issues and to improve community health, she says.
The Medical Society’s tool for many charitable activities is the Medical Foundation of Chattanooga, a non-profit charitable organization. The biggest program within these efforts is the charity healthcare initiative, Project Access. “We coordinate specialty care, hospital services for the low-income uninsured patients in Hamilton County who come to us through partner doctors and hospitals,” Bond says. “We have provided more than $73 million in donated healthcare services since we started in April 2004. We have about 620 volunteer physicians currently participating with Project Access, and so it’s really quite an amazing program, and we have been very blessed with the wonderful physician participation and also the participation of our hospital systems…”
Hospital systems involved with Project Access include Parkridge, Memorial, Erlanger, Siskin Hospital, Kindred Hosp-ital, Rehab South and 11 community health centers.
“It is a huge community health collaborative which tries to coordinate better healthcare for uninsured and working poor in our community,” Bond says. Approximately 7,000 patients have received care through Project Access since 2004. Project Access had a 32 to one return on investment in 2010, meaning that every $1 spent to manage the program resulted in $32 of donated care. Through Project Access, doctors, hospitals and health centers work together to meet the health care needs of the insured. The Hamilton County program is recognized nationally and has helped other communities start volunteer physician networks.
The Medical Alliance is a physician spouse organization that also supports the charitable work of the Medical Foundation and does some of their own community health work, such as an annual holiday party at the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults as well as fundraisers to help support the Project Access initiative. Another program that the Foundation and the Medical Society provide is the Youth Leadership Forum to encourage bright young people in the county to consider careers in medicine. Held for the past six summers, this weeklong program is competitive and open to all local public and private schools by nomination of outstanding rising juniors and seniors. Typically, 25 to 30 students are selected in the competitive process to participate in the program, Bond says.
Another purpose of the Bubbles, Bites & Bling event is to provide an opportunity for the physician community to come together as a whole, Bond says.
“As a physician membership organization, with every event we do, we also try to provide opportunities for the physician community to come together for a time of fellowship to talk about changes and stresses in medicine and try to build a sense of community. At the same time, we also try to raise a bit of money for the programs that the physicians have identified as priorities within our community.” Bond says she is excited about the cupcake competition and thinks the event will be a lighthearted evening for a good cause.
General admission for the event is $55 per person, which includes one drink ticket. Sponsor level tables of eight are still available and can be purchased through the Medical
Foundation at a price of $1,000. For more information call Kevin Lusk at 423-622-2872.
Bubbles, Bites & Bling is sponsored by Dale Buchanan & Associates, Medical Personnel Services, Kelly Cars, First Tennessee, Barnett & Company, University Surgical Associates and Hamilton Liquors.