2019 Awards

Volunteer of the Year • David Kinkead- List Manager, Mail Digest Moderator, Salesforce Data Manager, (and IAL Board Member)

Caregiver of the Year • Jeanette Thomas, nurse and life partner to Jack Henslee.

Lifetime achievement award to Jack Henslee.

Whispers on the Web Writer of the Year Author of her column “The Mindful Lary”: Noirin Sheahan of Dublin, Ireland

InHealth Technologies $200 to Karen White of Arlington, VA and to Michael Csapo, Twenty-Nine Palms, CA.

• Atos Medical $400 to the following first time pupils of the IAL Voice Institute: Daniel Carlson, Prescott, AZ, Lorna Larson, St. Louis, MO, Steven Cooper, Potomac, MD, Konrad Zielinski, Warsaw, Poland

ON GOING AWARD DESCRIPTIONS

Buck Martin Memorial Grant

“Buck Martin WW-VIP Grant”

In honor of Bruce “Buck” Martin, who left a bequest to WebWhispers, Inc., of $10,000 for this purpose, there will be a grant of no more than $1,000 each year for 10 years, starting in 2013. 

This money is to be a yearly grant to a new laryngectomee, a WebWhispers member, to supplement the expenses for attending the IAL Annual Meeting & Voice Institute as a Voice Institute Patient/Pupil. This is to continue yearly until the fund is exhausted. The choice of a deserving laryngectomee is to be decided by the WebWhispers Board of Directors using guidelines left as part of the bequest.”

If the grant fund is increased by future donations, the length of time will be extended to more than 10 years using the same rules.

Janine Mattoon Caregiver of the Year Award

Janine Mattoon
1951-2017

The Caregiver of the year award is to honor those that have given of themselves to help loved ones or others that needed help. It was created in honor of Janine Mattoon a registered nurse for 43 years working in medical and cancer care. She was part-time nursing supervisor and headed up teams to help the hospital she worked in comply with accreditation and establish emergency code procedures. She became the go to person in the hospital for laryngectomy care after her husband became a laryngectomee. She also helped in the start of the local laryngectomy support group and helped those in the group with caregiver support. She has also been recognized by the hospital with a plaque honoring her work in a healing garden at cancer center of the hospital in Burien, Washington. Janine passed away in December of 2017 from lung cancer.

The Eric Dolinger Memorial Grant sponsored by Atos Medical Inc.

We commemorate the life of our friend and colleague.

For Eric Dolinger, next to the love he had for his family, was his love and compassion for his patients – especially those patients who have undergone a laryngectomy. This group was special to him; most having beaten cancer, others experiencing recurrence, and many living with the never-ending thought of recurrence. Eric’s joy was helping people, helping them understand their new life, helping them regain a means of communication, and helping them get back to living what would be their “new normal”. Eric was always impressed with those that lived with adversity yet maintained such a positive “get on with living” attitude.

The Eric Dolinger Memorial Grant is an annual grant of $4,000.00 available to deserving organizations that are committed, like Eric, to helping the laryngectomized person get on with living. In 2013 the grant will be distributed as follows: $3,000.00 to be divided equally between The International Association of  Laryngectomees and the WebWhispers organization. The remaining $1,000.00 will go to the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary/Stanford TEP Course to assist healthcare professionals to gain a better understanding of the needs of the laryngectomized person and their families.

This amount is separate from any other donations from ATOS Medical to WebWhispers

(In our agreement with Atos about the $1500 being budgeted for donation each year, WW will be using $1,000 of the donation for our General Fund that pays for all of the operations of WebWhispers.  The Additional $500 will be used to assist laryngectomees by helping with expenses of attending the IAL)

InHealth Travel Grants

In honor of our founder, Dutch Helms, this grant was set up in 2007.

InHealth would very much like to put into effect the “Dutch Helms’ Travel Grant” program for support of WW attendees going to the annual IAL meeting and WW Banquet. On behalf of InHealth, I would like to establish this by providing an annual donation in the amount of $1,000 – starting in January 2007 for the July 2007 meeting. WW executive committee is responsible for determining who would receive the travel grant each year. If it is preferred, the travel grant could be shared by two or more WW members.

Jobeth Seder Erickson

[Those who received grants are listed in Certificates & Grants by year]

This amount is separate from any other donations from InHealth to WebWhispers

Lauder Annual Scholarships

Edmund and Lillian Lauder Laryngectomee Support Fund

This program has been in effect for first time attendees and with limited numbers since 2003 and was previously financed, at $80 per student , by special donations and the WebWhispers general fund. Effective with the IAL 2006 in Schaumburg, IL, this project will be financed by the Edmund and Lillian Lauder Laryngectomee Support Fund, sponsored and underwritten by Lauder Enterprises of San Antonio, TX, and by additional special donations made to WebWhispers for this purpose. If you wish to help in this support, please note that your donations are for this fund.

This amount is separate from any other donations from Lauder Enterprises to WebWhispers