Chamber Day 2016 Results

[Chamber Day]

We are pleased to announce that another Chamber Day has passed and been a wonderful success, with $107,885 raised for our Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. (Pictured are Chamber Day 2016 chair Ken Kurtis [L] and Chamber Director Karl Huggins [R] with the official mock check.)

Closer to 1,000 divers participated in one way or another this year, with almost 100 people diving at Catalina and visiting the Chamber on May 4, another 116 "diving" the Flying Dutchman (the fake boat of the event for those who can't take a day off), and another 400+ people descended upon the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach to dine in the Great Hall at Chamber Evening. In addition, another one hundred bought t-shirts and posters and even more people made straight cash donations through the Chamber Challenge (which by itself accounted for almost $55,000)

Almost $30,000 in raffle prizes were won by participants at the combined Day & Eve events and visitors to the Chamber, at the Wrigley Marine Science Center at Catalina's Isthmus, got to chat with first responders (Baywatch, U.S. Coast Guard, L.A. County Sheriff's, and others), as well as do a "dive" to one foot in the Chamber itself. During the evening event, attendees had full access to the Aquarium, which was being staffed by Dive Team volunteers.

Chamber Day annually accounts for close to half of the funding needed to keep the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber staffed and operational on a 24/7/365 basis. The event next year will be held on Wednesday, May 3.

 

[kelemvor]

Well done, Ken. Where does the chamber get the other half of the needed funding?

 

[Kevrumbo]

Well done, Ken. Where does the chamber get the other half of the needed funding?

Alert Diver | The Chamber on Catalina Island

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Well done, Ken. Where does the chamber get the other half of the needed funding?

Do we have your credit card on file . . . ?????

Actually . . . the other half comes from:
1. An annual grant from LA County (roughly $80K but I believe it fluctuates a bit each year)
2. The Avalon Underwater Cleanup ($6,225 this year)
3. Income from various classes taught by the Chamber personnel (usually Karl)
4. Income from shirts, hats, etc. sold throughout the year at the Chamber (but probably less than $1K)

We do NOT derive ANY income from actual patient treatments. Technically, the Chamber does not charge anyone for treatments. However (and this is why I said "technically"), the medical staff support comes from L.A. County through L.A. County/USC Medical Center and THEY are the ones who bill you. So the County hopes to make back over the course of a year what they give out in the annual grant.

An average Chamber treatment runs $5-6K so if we do 15-18 treatments/year it's break-even on the County books. But they don't necessarily get paid, or they don't necessarily get paid in full, for every treatment. (And we generally average around 25 treatments/year.) By the same token, the deal is that they won't come hound you for the money if you can't pay and don't have insurance. You'll get ONE bill and either have insurance take care of it or you pay it or you ignore it. They don't turn it over to a debt collection agency if you can't/don't/won't pay. Nobody should face any kind of financial hardship because they needed treatment. It should not - and in L.A. County IS not - a financial decision as to whether or not to go to the Chamber.

More than you really asked but that's the full picture.