Sometimes you find your greatest passion in life when you least expect it. For Emily Dillingham, executive director of the Summit Pacific Medical Foundation, that’s exactly what happened and it landed her in her dream career.
Growing up just north of Boston, Emily attended college at Miami University in Ohio where she majored in cultural anthropology with a minor in Chinse studies. While receiving her education, Emily elected to study abroad in China to further delve into her studies. Always up for an adventure, upon graduation and returning from her adventures in Asia in 2008, Emily joined her brother living in Seattle. “That’s the time when I really fell in love with Washington,” states Emily. Needing to find work in her newly adopted state, she began dabbling around in the healthcare field.
Emily recalls that her first real entry into the workforce came when she accepted a position with the University of Washington Medical Center Eye Institute. “This was my first sense of working on the frontlines at a medical center and learning the administration side of things,” explains Emily.
Her next job was with Seattle restaurant group, Tom Douglas. “While at this job,” says Emily, “I really began to miss connecting with different cultures and using my language skills.” That’s when Emily decided to take a leap of faith and move back to China in 2012 to teach English in Shanghai where she became almost fluent in Chinese. While her happiness soared, Emily suffered a cardiovascular event that left her temporarily disabled. “I really had to hit the reset button,” expresses Emily. “While the health scare was very scary, it provided insight into my life and made me understand how important quality of health is. We can’t enjoy life unless we’re doing our best to stay healthy.”
Throughout her recovery, Emily began looking for work once again and started temping for a company that makes heart pumps. Working as a marketing assistant, Emily gained experience interfacing with physicians, event planning and other tasks that would prove useful for her in the coming years. After a move back to Washington where she had left a piece of her heart, Emily reveled in being able to watch her family grow up. “After my health scare,” explains Emily, “I began volunteering for the American Heart and Stroke Association where I was able to make a firm decision that fundraising and promoting healthy lifestyles was what I wanted to do long-term.”
Finding a Home and a Passion
Photo courtesy: Summit Pacific Medical Center
While working in a few more positions in the Tacoma area and honing her fundraising skills, Emily and her husband spent their free days vacationing in Grays Harbor. During this time, a resurgence of her health issue found her searching for a more peaceful way of life than the one that they were living. “Once I recovered,” says Emily, “we took a serious look at our life and decided that there was no time like the present to make the move to our beloved vacation spot.” While job searching in the area, Emily happened upon a job posting at Summit Pacific, and the rest is history. “We had already fallen in love with the community,” states Emily. “So, moving to such a naturally beautiful and more rural area was an easy transition.”
Emily’s first day on the job as Executive Director for Summit Pacific’s Medical Foundation was February 3, 2020. Since that first day, Emily describes being welcomed with open arms. “The people that I work with combined with the work that we do really are the epitome of my dream job,” states Emily. The Foundation is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that raises funds through donations, grants and events. All proceeds from their fundraising activities directly benefit the hospital district through the purchase of equipment, facility upgrades and funding for staff and patient education programs.
Although much of her first few days and weeks differ from the norm due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Emily is thrilled to be part of the team and help support Summit Pacific’s mission of building the healthiest community in the nation. “Fundraising for the Foundation is all about building relationships,” states Emily. “I truly love working with the public through fundraising and community development, and even if folks can’t give financially, I’m always excited when they still want to learn about what Summit Pacific is up to.”
A major aspect of Emily’s position includes working to better publicize what exactly the Foundation does and help the public understand where the money goes once it’s raised. Since Summit Pacific’s Wellness Center was completed using the Foundation’s funds, the community may be wondering, what’s next? “We’re really getting the wheels turning to launch the next campaign in couple years,” explains Emily. “We know that it’ll be something just as impactful.”
When they’re not focusing on a major campaign, the Foundation keeps busy with their scholarship program, supporting staff by purchasing new work equipment and other projects as needed. Right now, the Foundation is working towards purchasing equipment to start a cardiac rehabilitation service line at Summit Pacific. This will be funded through an upcoming event.
Another component of Emily’s position is helping to organize fundraising events. The annual Celebrity Golf Tournament is their largest event where 100 percent of the proceeds go towards the Foundation. Other events that Emily’s excited to get to be a part of include the early October Peak Health 5k Fun Run in conjunction with the Peak Health Wellness Fair that showcases the Wellness Center, dozens of various booths and vendors including Coastal Harvest and many other activities. Later in fall brings around Ladies Night Out that is both an educational and entertaining dinner for women raising awareness for women’s health issues. These events and others can be found on Summit Pacific’s event calendar.
In addition, Emily is enjoying working with the Summit Pacific-led effort to improve community members’ health through the Blue Zones Project: a well-being improvement initiative focusing on “life radius.” This program encourages community changes at worksites, schools, grocery stores, through policy, and with community members, as well as encourages connectivity by making small changes that result in a large impact. “My role has been to engage and find local stakeholders to help champion this cause,” states Emily. “When Blue Zones came and did an initial assessment of the area, we helped raise $50,000. We’re thrilled be to bring in this project in the future and improve the health of Harborites.”
“The honor that comes with the position is tremendous,” expresses Emily. “I love living in rural community and knowing my neighbors. Being a part of Summit is wonderful and I’m happy to be on the front lines bringing their mission to the area.”
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