Money raised at Valentine Ball to benefit ER expansion

Sarah Dyson of Lady's Island has recently spent a lot of time in the emergency room at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. Things just seem to happen to her in-laws on the weekends and after their doctors have gone home for the day, she said, and she ends up taking them to the hospital for care.

Dyson, who has been on the hospital's foundation board for the past six years, knows how important the annual Valentine Ball fundraiser is to the hospital. In past years, it has raised money for technology upgrades and other improvements to the hospital's facilities and the services it provides.

But Dyson's personal experience -- sitting for hours and hours in the waiting room while her family members are treated -- has shown her the hospital's need for a larger ER.

"It's got to be done," Dyson said. "We can improve the quality of the care so much, and we can certainly help these professional people do their jobs better if they had the space and the more efficient methods of working."

That's the aim of Beaufort Memorial's 21st annual Valentine Ball, planned for Feb. 6 at Lyceum Hall on Parris Island. Proceeds from this year's event will go toward the expansion of the emergency room. The black-tie affair is the hospital's signature fundraiser, which has raised more than $3 million for the nonprofit medical center since the ball's inception in 1990.

Hospital officials hope the money raised from the ball will allow them to add about nine rooms to the emergency room. Last year the 18-bed emergency room served more than 36,000 people.

This year's ball will begin at 9 p.m. with dancing, dessert and a silent auction. Before the ball, hundreds of guests will dine at private homes all over the Beaufort area. Dinner will be hosted at about 45 different homes to more than 500 guests.

Dyson, who has been in the ER when it's really crowded, said the hospital has the most professional care anyone could expect but there are just too many patients and not enough room.

She was there one night when someone came in high on drugs and the ER went into what she called "lockdown mode," where people aren't allowed into the ER unless it's absolutely necessary. That same night, a mother came in with her child who had been hit by a car.

"There was just not even room for anybody else to squeeze back there," Dyson said. "Between staff and family members and people actually on the gurneys and everything else, it gets crowded."

Valentine Ball coordinator Brenda Molony said the ball is a fun event that many people look forward to attending each year.

"And it's a very important fundraiser for the hospital," Molony said. "It is a community nonprofit hospital that people in our community use."