Island Hospital Foundation (IHF) Director, Jeannette Papadakis, has announced her retirement, slated for the end of the year. Both IHF and Island Hospital (IH) greatly appreciate the contributions Papadakis has made over her tenure and will miss the drive she brought to her role.

During her tenure, Papadakis grew IHF fundraising revenue and annual contributions to IH significantly from $623,228 in 2015 to a projected $2M for 2020. She secured major gift contributions that have yielded new equipment purchases for the hospital, including seven fetal heart monitors for Labor and Delivery, 12 life-saving bedside telemetry units for the Emergency Department, as well as multiple devices for departments ranging from Oncology to Urology. She was also instrumental in expanding funding for mental health programs both for the IH Emergency Department as well as mental health counseling for Anacortes School District. Most recently, Papadakis helped spearhead the COVID-19 Relief Fund which quickly raised funds for IH related to the pandemic, including ventilators and testing supplies.

“Many of us have worked with Jeannette over the years and have seen her drive and energy. Collectively as a board, we thank her for her dedication to Island Hospital. The generosity of our donors to Island Hospital and Jeannette’s direction has built the Foundation to be very strong and trustworthy. It is a great honor for everyone on the board to serve this amazing community and wish Jeannette only the very best in retirement,” said Shirley Vacanti, RN, BSN, IHF President.

“We are extremely grateful for Jeannette’s leadership over the last several years especially during the challenging times of a pandemic. I enjoyed working with her and she will be dearly missed,” said IH CEO, Charles Hall, MSN, MBA.

Together, IHF and IH are conducting interviews to fill the position and will ensure a smooth transition before Papadakis’s retirement.