A Bequest to Further Good Work

With a gift from the Dr. Frank Pye Smith Medical Facilities Fund of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, Community Hospital purchased 10 Bioness Inc., electronic nerve-stimulation devices to help stroke patients and others regain use of their hands or legs. Smith, a retired neurosurgeon, sometimes did research on neurology at the hospital's medical library.

"Dr. Smith, in his 80s, was a competitive and award-winning racquetball player who would come in on Mondays and ask if we could work on his sore hamstrings," says Alain Claudel, director of Rehabilitation Services at Community Hospital. "We would get into passionate discussions about the nervous system. It was his fund that allowed our department to purchase this equipment. We are seeing amazing results, thanks to these devices and the generosity of the foundation."