NORWICH, N.Y. — Melissa Stagnaro has been appointed as the new executive director of the Chenango Memorial Hospital (CMH) Foundation, the fundraising arm of UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich.
Stagnaro joined the UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital team in December 2017 as director of fundraising and business development, according to a news release from the hospital. In that capacity, she led the Chenango Medical Neighborhood Capital Campaign, which to date has raised more than $6 million — more than double the campaign’s initial goal.
“Melissa is an important member of our senior staff at UHS Chenango Memorial. She believes passionately in the mission of our hospital, and is very committed to this community,” Dr. Drake Lamen, president and CEO of UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital, said. “Following her success with the capital campaign, this felt a natural progression for her within our organization.”
Stagnaro succeeds Deb Cassavaugh, who retired from her role at the Norwich hospital this summer, Cassavaugh was a key part of the CMH Foundation since its founding in 1995. She served as foundation assistant before being named the nonprofit organization’s first executive director in 2001.
“Over the last two and a half decades, Deb’s work with the Foundation has enabled our hospital to offer new programs, purchase state-of-the-art equipment and complete much-needed renovations,” Lamen said. “Her efforts have had a direct impact on improving patient care, increasing access to needed services and supporting the important work our caregivers do each and every day.”
In addition to Cassavaugh’s role with the foundation, she also served as the hospital’s director of special projects, where she guided many of the health-care facility’s capital improvements and community-service initiatives. In recognition of her “unique contributions,” UHS dedicated a conference room in the new UHS Cardiology Norwich space in her honor upon her retirement.
The Chenango Memorial Hospital Foundation was established in 1995 and charged with obtaining charitable contributions to support the hospital’s mission of service to the greater Chenango County community.
UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital is part of United Health Services, a nonprofit hospital and health-care system serving the Greater Binghamton region from more than 40 locations around New York’s Southern Tier, including several hospitals.