Prescription Called for a a Good Time
Where last Saturday evening could you find madcap medicos partying cheek-by-jowl with dancing doctors?
At the Physicians’ Phollies, of course.
Given for the benefit of Sharp Hospitals Foundation by the Sharp medical staff, the “Prescription Gala ‘92”--subtitled “Just What the Doctor Ordered” for those who didn’t get the message--was organized by physicians for physicians and came off remarkably well.
More than 500 practitioners and spouses, as well as a smattering of non-medical folk, turned out at the Sheraton Harbor Island’s Champagne Ballroom for a pair of auctions, dinner and virtually incessant dancing to the Jacqueline Foster Orchestra.
The gala’s pulse quickened at several crucial moments, notably when the live auction placed reserved parking spaces at both Sharp Memorial and Sharp Cabrillo hospitals on the block. A foundation staffer had predicted that, because of the more than 1,100 physicians at Sharp Memorial who compete daily for the mere 132 spaces in the doctors’ lot, this would be the hot item of the evening. It brought $1,400.
But the bidding captured the interest of the entire crowd; no-one in this group, evidently, regarded a parking slot as a mere bagatelle worthy of but passing interest.
The list of principal auction items consisted primarily of vacations and trips, but other items of interest included the opportunity to appear in the NBC situation comedy “Wings,” and a fuzzily warm cocker spaniel puppy presented live and in person--it licked faces on request--so as to raise the price. In total, the auction earned more than $36,000, including $8,000 for a trip for two to Australia.
By general report, the 31 physicians on the committee, joined in most cases by spouses, participated fully in the work of stitching the party together. Dr. Eugene Appel and his wife, Barbara, received wide applause for assuming the labor, for the third year, of soliciting the auction items.
Paula Henderson, who co-chaired with her husband, neonatologist Richard Henderson, said that it was a “learning experience” for her to witness the effort the medicos were willing to expend upon the event.
“I was just in awe of the amount of time these physicians were willing to spend in addition to their regular work day,” she said. “It proved to me how devoted they are to Sharp Hospitals Foundation.”
Paula Henderson estimated net proceeds of more than $60,000, to be divided in quadripartite fashion among the Sharp HealthCare Medical Education Center; the Sharp Hospitals’ Family Emergency Fund (which assists with transportation, cafeteria meals and similar basic expenses for needy patients and their families); furnishings for a physician-family consultation room at Sharp Memorial, and a to-be-established fund for breast cancer research.
Serious purposes seemed largely beside the point Saturday, since the physicians took on the proceedings with seemingly gleeful purpose. The arrangements proceeded cleverly, especially the trick of assembling the guests at a reception behind partitions that, at the dinner hour, were suddenly rolled back to reveal the orchestra in full swing. This offered an invitation to a party in progress, and the dance floor filled instantly.
Given the current “healthy foods” craze, guests dined in a relatively devil-may-care fashion on beef filet, poached salmon and plates of miniature pastries and sweets, served at tables centered with arrangements of peonies, orchids and gilded leaves that, supported on slender crystal columns, floated high above the diners’ heads.
“The doctors always supposedly have an adversarial relationship with the hospital and administration, but this evening is put on by doctors for doctors, and they’re having a great time,” noted Sharp Hospitals Foundation chief operating officer Bob Kelly, who added that the administration was amazed by the effort that went into the fund-raiser.
Foundation board chair Yvonne Larsen attended with her husband, Port Commissioner Dan Larsen, and said that the Prescription Gala was by no means the final social event on the foundation’s 1992 calendar. According to Yvonne, First Lady Barbara Bush has placed on her calendar the Oct. 30 dedication of the Mary Birch Women’s Hospital at Sharp Memorial. Since the date is just a few days before the Presidential election, this would seem a shaky commitment, but Larsen suggested that the occasion might coincide with a local campaign stop.
The guest and committee lists included Art and Jeannie Rivkin, Don and Abbie Giddings, Peter and Doris Ellsworth, Chuck and Marlene Koch, Debi Kelly, Jack and Peggy Anderson, Victor and Dolly Woo, David and Kathyann Marsh, Randall and Florence Smith, Steven and Regina Balch, Rolf and Deborah Ehlers, Lawrence and Diane Goldberger, David and Julia Simon, Scott and Leslye Lyons, Frann Teplick, Joey and Suze Killeen, Kristina Starkey with Bruce McCarty, and Jean Wickersham and Donald Kearns.
By 2:30 p.m. Saturday, more than 100 would-be wine bibbers were already waiting at the gate to the Camino Patio at University of San Diego.
By 3 p.m., official opening hour of the debut tasting of the ninth annual “Wine & Roses Charity Tasting,” Sherry Lichty, President of the sponsoring Juniors of Social Service, warned observers inside the gate to stand safely aside.
“It’s always a stampede,” she said. A moment later, the crowd, swollen to about 350 and armed with souvenir wine glasses, stormed up the path and dispersed rapidly among the tables at which 119 wineries poured tastes of vintages awarded medals at the annual San Diego National Wine Competition, held in April and also sponsored by the Juniors.
Guests passed through a double arch plaited with canary and ruby roses by the local chapter of the California Assn. of Nurserymen, co-sponsor of the “Wine & Roses” fete. As always, the group decorated the spacious patio and terraces with hundreds of exotic bloomers, potted for easy removal; all guests received one plant as a parting gift.
Net proceeds, which chairman Jan Kincannon estimated at $70,000, will be divided by Camp Oliver in Descanso, the Junior’s chief charity, and the nurserymens’ scholarship fund.
The proceeds derived partially from the sale, at heavy discounts, of 730 cases of wine donated by some of the 1,800 wineries that participated in the national wine competition. According to co-chair Suzanne Koch, the competition is the only in the United States held solely for charity.
The day stretched on as an additional 400 guests joined those who had paid a premium to be first to sample the wines. A band named Passion provided a breezy bossy nova background to the easygoing bacchanal, and a variety of local restaurants and food distributors stocked the buffets.
The committee included Donna Vance, Jessica Woodward Mazalewski, Marian Jacobs, Nancy Krueger, Roseanne Lindsay, Vera Campbell, Myrnan Fronczak, Lynda McDaniel, Drena Grether, Camille Nielsen, Deborah Lepper, Jackie Considine, Carolyn Robbins, Mary Jane Urlaub and Margaret Terzoli.
