Board of Directors

Ron Callahan returns as President of the Desert Hospital Auxiliary after an earlier two-year term and three years as Finance Committee chair.

During his first term, Ron helped restore the community grant program, revise the bylaws, replace aging sales and accounting systems with cloud-based platforms, and move the Auxiliary to QuickBooks Online.

Before retiring, Ron developed software, led business systems projects, and ran successful consulting practices. He brings this experience to completing the modernization of the Auxiliary’s operations and financial systems.

Ron joined the Auxiliary to give back to the community and put his time and experience to purposeful use.

Nancy Swanlund brings a strong commitment to volunteerism and community service to her role as Vice President of the Desert Regional Medical Center Auxiliary. Since retiring in 2017, she has dedicated much of her time to supporting patients and families through her volunteer work at Desert Regional Medical Center and Hanson House in Palm Springs.

Nancy has volunteered in the NICU at Desert Regional for the past five years and is especially touched by helping families during important life moments. She is also active with several nonprofit and church organizations throughout the community.

Dave was initially a volunteer in Errands & Escorts.

During the pandemic Dave focused his skills on helping the Gift Shop perform some restructuring and reorganization of the Gift Shop's accounting software.

Barbara has been on the Auxiliary Board for 7 years as the Corresponding Secretary, and has been a volunteer for 10 years.

She has the task of overseeing the grants that the Auxiliary gives out each year. She is retired from the City of Palm Springs where she was the Risk Management Specialist working with the employees on their health benefits for over 28 years.

Ernest just celebrated 40 years of volunteering with the Auxiliary. He started in Admitting and is now volunteering in Radiology. Ernest brings a background in advertising and printing to the Auxiliary. He has been the board's Treasurer for 17 years and has now retired, but remains as an advisor to the Auxiliary. As part of his service to the Auxiliary and to the patients of the hospital, Ernest became a notary. In his spare time, Ernest runs a healing arts bed and breakfast.