SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb., – For the second time this year, Webber’s Furniture Store in Scottsbluff surprised Regional West Medical Center staff by donating new furniture for two departments that provide cancer treatment services.

In January, Jon and Karen Smith, owners of the store, donated five Lane recliner chairs for the new Internal Medicine Chemotherapy/Infusion Center room at Regional West Physicians Clinic.

Regional West Physicians Clinic Oncology Nurse Coordinator Sue Schoeneman, MSN, APRN-C, said infusion chairs from the medical suppliers were so expensive that the decision was made to see if suitable chairs could be found locally.

After shopping around town, Schoeneman and her colleagues were considering leather recliners from Webber’s furniture. Karen Smith contacted the chair manufacturer to verify that the chair coverings could be wiped down and disinfected as needed. The Lane Furniture representative specially ordered the chairs with material that would work appropriately.

When Schoeneman returned to the store to make the purchase, Smith told her, “I talked to my husband and we’d like to donate the chairs.”

Smith said the same thing just a few months later when Sharon McKinney, director of Regional West Imaging Services, and two of her staff were ready to purchase furniture for a new patient consultation room at The Breast Health Center.

“We just couldn’t believe it,” said McKinney. “We hoped we could get everything we wanted within our budget, but when we went to give them the purchase order, Jon and Karen Smith said, “No, we want to give it to you.”

The Smiths and Webber’s Furniture Store donated a couch, two chairs, two lamps, a coffee table, a sofa table, and a lamp stand.

“An exam room is not the place to be told you have cancer,” said Karen Smith, speaking matter-of-factly, as one whose family had been touched by various forms of cancer.

She and her family wanted to provide a consultation room that would make patients and their families as comfortable as possible while waiting for or receiving information about whether they do or do not have cancer. Likewise, the Smiths were happy to be able to provide homey, comfortable seating for patients who require chemotherapy.

“We wanted to give back to the doctors and the hospital,” said Smith. “And I think it’s important to reach out to help families as they deal with cancer.”

Regional West Health Services, with over 1,800 employees, provides comprehensive and innovative health care services for the people and communities of western Nebraska and the neighboring states of Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming. With over 110 active physicians, 95 percent of whom are board certified or board eligible, plus an additional 25 consulting specialists, Regional West offers care that spans more than 30 medical specialties. Regional West Medical Center, a subsidiary of Regional West Health Services, is accredited by The Joint Commission and is one of three Level II Trauma Centers in Nebraska.