(Oneida, NY – May 2015) Members of Madison County Locale 554, Forty & Eight, recently donated a large number of new stuffed toys to be given to Oneida Healthcare’s pediatric patients. Pictured from left are Chuck Button, Commisaire Intendant; Mike Healy, Oneida Healthcare Director of Community Relations; Jan DeRocker, RN, Nurse Manager of the Emergency Department, ICU and Quick Care after-hours service; Cindy Sheckler, Chef De Train; and Paul Douglass, Chef De Gare.
Founded in 1920, the Forty & Eight is an independent veteran’s honor organization committed to charitable and patriotic aims, including programs that promote child welfare and nurse’s training. The name reflects its First World War origins when Americans were transported to the battle front on French trains within boxcars stenciled with a “40/8,” denoting its capacity to hold either forty men or eight horses. Membership is by invitation of honorably discharged veterans and honorably serving members of the United States Armed Forces.