First Choice Emergency Room, an Adeptus Health company, is partnering with Operation Gratitude and will be hosting a spring collection drive from March 20-April 4 to support active duty military and veteran communities. The Garland location is at 7050 North Shiloh Road.
All First Choice Emergency Room facilities across Texas and Colorado will serve as drop sites and will be collecting a variety of necessities, as well as letters of support. The items will be used to fill care packages and sent to soldiers, sailors, airman and marines deployed oversees; to their children left behind; and to veterans, new recruits, first responders, wounded warriors and their care givers.
“We are honored by First Choice Emergency Room’s support of our military community and Operation Gratitude’s patriotic cause through this tremendous collection drive effort,” said program founder Carolyn Blashek. “We plan to assemble and ship more than 150,000 care packages this year alone. Your generous contribution will help fill those packages with meaningful items and letters. First Choice Emergency Room’s dedication and commitment to our service members is making a real difference!”
Operation Gratitude’s mission is to lift the spirits and meet the needs of our active duty and veteran communities, and provide volunteer opportunities for all Americans to express their appreciation to members of our military. Operation Gratitude sends 100,000+ care packages annually.
“We are honored to partner with Operation Gratitude and this amazing organization that supports our troops overseas and the veterans who have served our country,” said Thomas S. Hall, Chairman and CEO, Adeptus Health. “With 61 facilities across two states, our goal is to help make it easy for the communities we serve to support our troops; and we hope to collect more than 50 thousand items in doing so.”
Items needed most include Beanie Babies/Ty/Webkinz; warmers (instant hand and foot); batteries (AA,AAA,DL123A); carabiners; razors; chapstick; sanitizer; pens; dental floss; boot laces; combination lock; ear plugs; map pens/markers; whistle; and compass. Other items accepted include Altoid mints; beef jerkey; Sudoku puzzles; decks of cards; OFF! Towelettes; trail mix; almonds; cereal bars, Emergen C; Starbucks VIA packs and wool socks.
First Choice Emergency Room facilities will be clearly marked as Operation Gratitude drop sites with large military eagle inflatables, banners, wind flags and more. Furthermore, the facilities are open 24/7, making it even more convenient for generous community members to drop off their donations items to say “thank you” to our troops and veterans.
About First Choice Emergency Room: First Choice Emergency Room is the nation’s leading network of independent emergency rooms; it is both the largest and the oldest. First Choice Emergency Room is revolutionizing the delivery of emergency medical services for adult and pediatric emergencies by offering patients convenient, neighborhood access to emergency care. First Choice Emergency Room facilities are innovative, freestanding, and fully equipped emergency rooms with a complete radiology suite of diagnostic technology (CT scanner, Ultrasound, and Digital X-ray) and on-site laboratory. All First Choice Emergency Room locations are staffed with board-certified physicians and emergency trained registered nurses. According to patient feedback collected by Press Ganey Associates Inc., First Choice Emergency Room provides the highest quality emergency care and received the 2014 and 2013 Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence for exceeding the 95th percentile in patient satisfaction nationwide.
Photo: Robert Eudy, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army and Christopher Moses, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine