Employees from CRMC's emergency department received gift bags from Ulta Beauty as a token of appreciation for their hard work at the hospital. Photo by Ben Hensley

Health care employees at Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) were surprised Thursday morning with gift bags, courtesy of Ulta Beauty, aiming to raise the spirits of the busy staff.

The gift bags, which included various self-care items such as chapstick, skin care products and lotions, assorted nail polish colors and other self-care products, were donated with the hope of giving back to the community as a “thank you” for health care workers.

 

“At Ulta, we’re always looking for opportunities to give back to the community,” said Tom Hoare, director of the Ulta Distribution Center located in Fresno. “We definitely believe in using the power of beauty to make a positive impact in the community so we put together 650 bags basically for self-care for our health care heroes.”

The emergency department at CRMC sees anywhere from 150 to 170 ambulances arrive daily according to Katie Zenovich, SVP, development and external affairs at Community Health System.

Zenovich said that community outreach donations like this keep the staff feeling positive during their long shifts, many of which can exceed eight hours.

“This is like Christmas in April for our emergency department folks,” she said. “Everyone in the emergency department works so hard every single day; the volumes in our emergency departments are just so high always – they haven’t gone down.”

 

Since the closure of Madera Community Hospital in January 2023, Zenovich said there has been an increase in emergency department visits, with patients suffering illness and physical injury.

“With Madera closing, our volumes went up — they were already high,” she said. “In the springtime…we have influenza, we have RSV, we have COVID; we have people going out skiing. They break their leg or something and they’re ending up in the emergency department.”

Brittney Whelan, a CRMC nurse, said the donations help emergency department staff feel recognized by the community.

“We feel so loved and supported and we’re so happy to give back to our community,” she said. “It’s just so sweet that they would do this for us.”

Whelen, who was present the last time Ulta held a giveaway, said that it is important for health care workers to take care of themselves.

“It feels good to do something good for yourself on your days off,” she said.