CommonSpirit Health’s focus on building stronger communities, innovating care and advancing health equity helps fuel our commitment to education. In 2021-2022, CommonSpirit’s foundations received $29.1 million in donor contributions to support initiatives like the More In Common Alliance, local scholarships for caregivers and community members, medical assistant apprenticeships and continuing education programs.

In addition to supporting traditional classroom-based programs, CommonSpirit’s partners also provide funding for capital projects to facilitate ongoing medical training. Redwood City, California’s Sequoia Hospital Foundation received $400,000 in grant funding for a nursing simulation lab from The Carl Gellert and Celia Berta Gellert Foundation. When complete, the facility will be a state-of-the-art training center providing the ability to mirror the clinical experience by representing a typical hospital setting. The grant fully funds four advanced “manikins” (two males, one pregnant mother and one female), allowing clinicians to experience a near exact replica of actual working conditions with patients. In the future, Sequoia hopes to welcome clinicians from CommonSpirit’s other area hospitals to train within the facility.

Sequoia’s new nursing simulation lab will be named in honor of the Gellert family’s generosity. Since 1983, the Gellert Foundation has provided more than $2 million to Sequoia’s foundation to support the hospital’s new pavilion project, the campaign for a new CT scanner and interventional radiology research, among other initiatives. The nursing simulation lab will be their last grant, however, as the Gellert Foundation’s leadership has decided to sunset their operations.

Capital funding helps CommonSpirit Health’s care sites build, maintain and renovate facilities, purchase equipment and address emergent needs. In 2021-2022, $17 million was gifted from our donors in support of general capital expenses.

A generous gift of $500,000 in 2022 from Steve and Barbara Hearst to French Hospital Medical Center Foundation’s Beyond Health campaign will support the $150 million expansion project for “Your New French Hospital” in San Luis Obispo, California. This gift, combined with a $250,000 gift from the Hearst Foundations, will benefit the new four-story 85,000 square-foot Patient Care Tower, which will include 56 additional private patient rooms, a new neonatal intensive care unit, an expanded intensive care unit, healing spaces, and expanded space for imaging, labs, pharmacy, food service and more.

Steve Hearst, the great-grandson of William Randolph Hearst, and his family have been strong advocates and longtime supporters of French Hospital Medical Center, through their ongoing support of the Hearst Cancer Center, which has helped countless cancer patients. In recognition of their latest gifts and to honor their generosity, the Patient Care Tower’s new heliport, used to transport critical care patients, will be named the Hearst Heliport.

Across CommonSpirit Health’s ministry, the prevention, detection and treatment of all types of cancer are fundamental priorities as we seek to build healthier communities. Our donor partners walk with us in this effort, supporting the remarkable work taking place in our hospitals, research facilities and mobile clinics. In 2021-2022, our philanthropy ministry received $12.1 million to advance our cancer/oncology programs.

In 2021, MercyOne Des Moines Foundation set a goal of raising $5,000 on “Giving Tuesday.” The event is a global day of giving held each winter to drive an influx of grassroots generosity, citizen engagement, business and philanthropy activation, and support for communities and nonprofits around the world. It is a day devoted to the spirit of coming together and giving back.

By day’s end on Giving Tuesday, thanks in part to a generous matching gift, the foundation had raised more than $20,000 to support the William J. Semon Family Resource Fund, directly benefiting patients at the MercyOne Des Moines Cancer Center.

Established in 2011 in memory of Dr. William J. Semon, a gastroenterologist at Iowa Digestive Disease Center at MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, the fund supports cancer patients dealing with the additional financial burdens and added expenses of cancer treatments, co-pays, travel, medication and nutritional supplements. Since its creation, 700 cancer patients have been impacted through the Semon Fund.

Philanthropy facilitates better health through investments both within our hospitals and clinics and beyond our physical walls. In 2021-2022, CommonSpirit Health’s foundations raised $7 million for programs that extend our reach to better serve our communities.

In 2021, CHI Health and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System announced a unique, first-of-its kind partnership to open a 30,000 square foot, 34-bed facility that will be housed on the 5th and 6th floors of CHI Health Midlands Hospital in Papillion, Nebraska. Located just miles from Offutt Air Force Base in a community with deep military ties, the new VA Community Living Center is designed to provide short-stay rehabilitation, skilled-nursing care and memory care to area veterans.

The center’s plans, and its budget, originally called for a modest outdoor space, but it was quickly determined that would not be enough to meaningfully aid in the healing of mind, body and soul. Uniting their donors’ passion with a project of deep significance to the area, CHI Health Foundation stepped forward to raise funds necessary to complete the newly envisioned $2 million Healing Pavilion. Plans for the project, visible from the center, now include a gathering space for special events, a flag garden to salute all branches of the military and quiet spaces for reflection and meditation that will be open to all hospital patients, staff and the community. There is also an active space including a half basketball court and an area where visitors and staff can play and engage in physical activity.

In 2022, upon learning of the proposed pavilion, Veterans United Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization created and driven by the employees of Veterans United Home Loans, generously pledged $250,000 to bring the project closer to completion

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Across our ministry, our supporters donated more than $5.9 million in 2021-2022 to support CommonSpirit Health’s heart and vascular research, screening, treatment and ongoing care programs.

In Sacramento, California, Mercy General Hospital and Mercy Foundation announced plans this year to create the Lucchetti Anderson Heart and Vascular Institute, a new world-class, patient-centered cardiovascular center of excellence. This exciting project is made possible in large part by a generous lead gift of $3 million from the Lucchetti and Anderson families. As previous cardiac care patients at Dignity Health, family members were motivated to enhance the patient experience beyond its already excellent standards.

The Lucchetti Anderson Heart and Vascular Institute will help provide cardiovascular patients in the Sacramento region with a new and robust patient-centered health care experience, add professional staff who will facilitate treatment coordination and collaboration, and help improve patient access to clinical care providers and hospital services.

The new institute at Mercy General Hospital will improve the patient, family and caregiver experience. A campaign to raise the additional $3.2 million needed for the project has begun, with a goal of project completion in 2023.

Across CommonSpirit Health, in major metropolitan centers and in rural communities, our clinicians care for patients in their most vulnerable moments. In 2021-2022, generous donors contributed $5.5 million to support department-specific programs across CommonSpirit. These funds enhance the patient experiences as well as patient outcomes in every one of our hospital departments.  

Funding not only department specific needs, but also transformational research and care, Barrow Neurological Foundation raised an incredible $42 million in gifts from its generous donors this past year. This includes $10.4 million raised by the Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation through the 2022 Barrow Grand Ball, as well as $4.3 million raised by the foundation through its inaugural Neuro Night event. During this same period, the foundation distributed over $20 million to Barrow Neurological Institute to support its mission to save lives through innovative treatment, groundbreaking research and advanced medical education.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Barrow’s Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, penned a thoughtful letter touching on both the center and the institute. She wrote “From the outset, Muhammad and I had a shared vision of building the greatest Parkinson’s center in the world, to help those in need of it most. To be worthy of Muhammad’s name, the center would have to work to provide all of its patients with the same expert and compassionate care that was given to Muhammad throughout his battle with Parkinson’s. Barrow has gone above and beyond in fulfilling this mission. Today, 25 years later, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center is one of the largest and most active Parkinson’s facilities in the country, helping thousands of patients each year. There is truly nowhere like it in the world.”

Building healthy communities extends far beyond the care delivered within our walls and even beyond our patients. At CommonSpirit Health we believe we must also care for our patients’ families and build strong partnerships in the community to ensure that everyone has the access they need to be healthy. In 2021-2022, we received $5.2 million for family support programs across our ministry.

In Colorado, St. Mary-Corwin Hospital Foundation in Pueblo and Mercy Hospital Foundation in Durango secured nearly $1.3 million to launch Fresh to Flourish, a produce prescription program to feed vulnerable patients and their families. Centura Health, jointly owned by CommonSpirit and Adventist Health, serves these rural communities. Hospital staff worked as grant writers and administrators to obtain a $466,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program. An additional grant from CommonSpirit’s Mission & Ministry fund raised the remaining balance.

Fresh to Flourish offers care providers with a tool to bridge the gap between recommendations to eat more vegetables and patients’ ability to afford them. Through the program, primary care providers at Centura’s Southern Colorado Family Medicine clinic in Pueblo and at three Durango-based Mercy Family Medicine clinics issue food vouchers to eligible patients. Fresh to Flourish addresses both nutrition and food insecurity, helping an estimated 2,000 patients buy fresh produce at participating grocery stores and farmers markets in their communities through 2024. Eligible patients are also provided an opportunity to enroll in additional nutrition educational activities, such as cooking classes and grocery store/farmers market tours in collaboration with Cooking Matters Colorado.  

Planning is currently underway to extend the program's timeframe and expand the areas served.

This work is supported by Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Grant Program grant no. 2021-70030-35797/project accession no. 1027395 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

CommonSpirit Health’s core commitment to advancing health justice is evident not only in our national efforts but in the work of each of our local fundraising offices in the communities we serve. Philanthropy is leading these efforts through the support of pioneering programs that ensure greater access to care, create community partnerships and participation, and advocate for those who are vulnerable. In 2021-2022, our ministry received $5.1 million in contributions to support programs and initiatives that enable all people to be healthy and safe.

The pursuit of health justice takes many forms, as do the vulnerable populations we serve. At San Francisco’s Saint Francis Memorial Hospital Gender Institute, philanthropy is helping to deliver culturally-competent, high-quality and affordable health services to transgender patients and their families in a safe and respectful environment. Since 2016, Saint Francis Foundation has provided more than $7.1 million to the institute for state-of-the-art robotic surgical equipment, perioperative services, physician and staff training and education, wrap-around support programs and community-based peer-to-peer navigation services. Funding directly supports and improves local health care delivery to transgender and gender non-conforming patients and their families and ensures a high-quality continuum of care both within and beyond the hospital environment. The foundation is currently supporting early phase planning for the Gender Institute Resource Center to be housed onsite at the hospital.

Saint Francis Memorial Hospital is the world’s first hospital to receive accreditation as a Center of Excellence in Gender Confirmation Surgery and was designated as a LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Healthcare Equality Index.

Surgical services are essential to the care of our communities, regardless of their size or geographic location. Cardiac surgery, joint repair and replacement, gynecological and urological procedures, and complex robotic surgeries all require advanced facilities to deliver the best pre-operative, surgical and post-operative care to our patients. In 2021-2022, our donors contributed $5.1 to support surgical care and services in CommonSpirit Health’s facilities.

At Mark Twain Medical Center in California’s rural Calaveras County, the Wings of Freedom Foundation pledged a record-breaking $7.5 million to fund the Betty Higgins Surgical Center. Mark Twain is the county’s only hospital and the newly renovated surgical center will allow its highly trained team to meet the ever-changing needs of the community today, tomorrow and well into the future.

Wings of Freedom initially donated $4.5 million to Mark Twain Medical Center Foundation to help fund the surgical center, subsequently coming back with an additional $3 million. These donations represent the largest-ever contributions to the foundation. This pioneering investment will strengthen disease and injury care by upgrading Mark Twain’s facilities and adding specialized equipment and surgical suites to accommodate advanced procedures. These improvements also will increase the number of cases that can be performed in an outpatient setting.

Caring for the youngest members of the communities we serve is a priority throughout CommonSpirit Health’s ministry. Our pediatrics programs provide essential services for children and young adults in many of our hospitals across the country, supported by our local foundations and our committed partners. In 2021-2022, we received $4.5 million to support pediatric care.  

In the last fiscal year, Henderson, Nevada’s St. Rose Dominican Health Foundation raised more than $2 million through Children’s Miracle Network fundraising. Since becoming a member in 2005, the foundation has raised an impressive $22.8 million to care for the children and young adults of southern Nevada. To achieve these results, the foundation partners annually with nearly three dozen corporate sponsors and 900 retail locations to provide campaign materials, resources and training to frontline store associates. Golf tournaments, wine auctions, walkathons and other volunteer opportunities ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate.

With the funds raised, hospital leadership can prioritize emergent projects and equipment. In 2021-2022 funding was provided for the hospital’s child life program, pediatric charity care, maternal care and state-of-the-art equipment for the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units, among other programs. In the hospital’s imaging suite, where MRI exams can make even adult patients anxious, children now have the option to watch a favorite movie or TV program on MRI-safe goggles during their scan, thanks to funding from the foundation and Children’s Miracle Network donors. The goggles can relax the young patients, potentially eliminating the need for sedation, and allowing for a more clear image.

In communities across the nation, CommonSpirit Health’s emergency departments care for our patients in moments of distress, crisis and need. Our highly-trained caregivers provide compassionate acute care to patients of all ages and backgrounds on their most dire days. To support their efforts and the specialized equipment and environments in which they provide care, donors contributed more than $3.2 million in 2021-2022.

CHI Health Good Samaritan in Kearney, Nebraska, opened the 20,000-square-foot Dr. Kenton L. Shaffer Emergency Care Center in September 2021. The emergency department renovation more than doubled the size of the prior facility, which remains the region’s primary stroke center and advanced level II trauma center. The expansion included two state-of-the-art trauma suites and 14 private patient rooms, in addition to four isolation treatment rooms with negative pressure capabilities, specialty treatment rooms for OB/GYN and behavioral health patients, and private check-in and consultation rooms.

The final phase of the project, a fully-enclosed 4,000 square-foot ambulance bay, opened in July of 2022. The project was funded with $750,000 in community donor support to Good Samaritan Foundation, including $50,000 donated by hospital staff during their annual giving campaign. The enclosure shelters patients and emergency personnel from the elements during the loading and unloading process and enhances patient privacy. The drive-through bay is climate-controlled and features automatic overhead doors at the entrance and exit, a large decontamination room, and ample storage. The new concrete drive leading to the bay has built-in heating to ensure year-round access without snow and ice accumulation.