New CRMC Endowment Honors Ethics Committee Founder Bowman

The Cookeville Regional Charitable Foundation now accepting donations for a new endowment with the goal of promoting ethical behavior.

The new fund would honor Monika Bowman, a founding member of the CRMC Ethics Committee. Bowman passed away last May. Foundation Director John Bell said that she was a great example of ethics in healthcare and will be dearly missed.

“Monika had a wonderful, professional, but compassionate way of navigating very difficult situations and bringing staff together and finding consensus to do the right thing for patients that were just in some rough situations,” Bell said.

Bowman worked in healthcare for 40 years, initially in social services, and then as an auxiliary staffer at CRMC. The purpose of the endowment is to put a stronger emphasis on ethical behavior in staff training, as well as increasing recognition of ethical practices and treatment of patients.

“Patient care is where the rubber meets the road so to speak,” Bell said. “It’s one thing to think of these things in a board room or to sit down at lunch and have an idea on what should or shouldn’t be done, but when you’re active with a patient and their family, and sitting there at the bedside, these things are much more real.”

Bell said the funds from the endowment will be controlled by the ethics committee that Bowman established. The money will be used for things such as scholarships for training and certifications in ethical healthcare practices.

“This focus on ethics within the healthcare decision making process is very impactful,” Bell said. “And we do believe that we’ll continue to see benefits of change here at the hospital because of that.”

Bell said that the endowment funds may also be used to help patients and their families going through particularly difficult situations as the ethics committee sees fit.