Mother's Day can mean flowers, candy and a card. However, a more permanent remembrance is being suggested this year.
A brick, a personalized brick, added to numerous other bricks, can become a part of a walkway, a permanent path leading to the place where many women have found health, wellness, encouragement and comfort.
"In 2001 we began offering the bricks as a meaningful way for the community to honor and memorialize loved ones," said Jim Lambert, Conway Regional president and CEO.
"The personalized bricks are another way that the community has shown overwhelming support for the Conway Regional Women's Center. This level of support has grown to the point that we recently announced plans to add eight more obstetrics rooms.
"The bricks are a thoughtful expression that not only benefits the donor's mother, but all women who receive health care services at Conway Regional. In fact it has become a lasting Mother's Day tradition that we hope will span generations of Conway residents," Lambert said.
Conway Regional Medical Center is making that suggestion for those who want to honor a mother or a friend in a special way this Mother's Day. For a $100 donation, the loved one's name will be etched in a brick that will be a permanent part of the walkway leading from the fountain to the Barbara Harpe Nabholz Pavilion, home of the Conway Regional Women's Center.
For convenience the bricks can be purchased online at www.conwayregional.org or by calling the Conway Regional Health Foundation at 513-5778. In addition to the brick laid in the walkway, the donor will also receive an identical brick as a keepsake, and an acknowledgement card will be sent immediately notifying the honoree of the gift.
The Women's Center is full service, offering single room maternity suites, a gynecology unit, a comprehensive breast care program and digital mammography. It also houses the hospital's women's education, osteoporosis services, diabetes education services and a perinatal bereavement program.
Designed with an eye to please, the Women's Center has colors, lighting, fabrics and artworks that appeal to the feminine side.
The new digital mammography section has a waiting room that is quiet, away from other rooms. It has soft light and comfortable seating, all chosen to surround the woman while she waits for her annual examination.
Digital mammography is considered by many as less painful. The results are available quickly with fewer call backs for more images.
The aim of all this attention to comfort, technology and privacy is to encourage more women to come to "their" center for the procedures that are life saving.
