Excela Westmoreland nurses treated to Cold Stone Creamery gift cards

Nurses at Excela Westmoreland Hospital will have a cool Nurses’ Week.

They’ll be receiving $5 gift cards from Cold Stone Creamery as part of a corporate outreach program honoring nurses who have been on the front lines during the pandemic.

“A little cup of ice cream was the least we could do,” said Sara Schmillen, vice president of marketing for Kahala Brands, parent company of Cold Stone.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, we activated our online ordering platform, where customers checking out could donate $1 or a creation to front-line workers,” she said. “Then, we had to find a way to give it out to the community.”

Schmillen and her team sought nominations of worthy organizations by emailing franchisees across the country — including the store at 2530 Greengate Center Circle in Hempfield, owned by Susan and Bernie Rodgers.

Bernie Rodgers mentioned the program to employee Makayla Rutkowsky, 17, of Hempfield.

“Bernie knows my mom is in the medical field, and he knew that she’s been working really hard,” she said.

Julia Rutkowsky is a nurse on Westmoreland Hospital’s 3D/3E unit. She’s been with Excela Health for three years.

“Because he needed a contact within the organization, he reached out to Julia and asked her, if Westmoreland Hospital was picked as a winner, would she be the contact to receive the gift cards,” Excela spokeswoman Robin Jennings said. “Next thing she knew, she was notified that, yes, the nomination was approved.”

Touching response

The original plan was for one organization to be recognized, Susan Rodgers said.

“We never thought it would come to anything,” she said. “Who thought a small town in Western Pennsylvania would get picked?”

The scope of community response “was so touching that we decided to award everyone,” Schmillen said.

Customer donations supplemented by corporate funds meant gift cards would go to 3,725 nurses representing 37 organizations across the country, she said. Excela Westmoreland is the only recipient in Pennsylvania.

The hospital will receive 200 gift cards to be distributed at random, Jennings said.

It’s a nice bit of payback, Rodgers said.

“The nursing staff orders ice cream from us quite often,” she said. “They’re one of our constants, and we really appreciate that.”

Although Nurses’ Week officially runs from May 6-12, Excela will recognize nurses throughout the month, Jennings said.

Throughout the pandemic, community members also have supplied nursing staff with pizza, sweets and gift baskets, Rutkowsky said.

“The community has really done a lot to show appreciation,” she said.

Meanwhile, Schmillen said, the Creation Donation option is still available when ordering at coldstonecreamery.com.

“We’ll come up with a new initiative,” she said. “We will definitely be doing something again when we amass a good number of donations.”