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| Contact: Christine Hill: 612-873-5719 |
10/06/09 |
Hennepin County Medical Center now has a charitable foundation to raise money and engage community support for the nationally recognized public teaching and safety net hospital.
Two years ago, Hennepin County created a public corporation to run Hennepin County Medical Center. The new governance model was designed to provide more operational flexibility, which included the ability to create a foundation to raise funds.
“The community wants to support this outstanding teaching hospital and the important care, teaching, and research that happens there,” said Judy Shank, MD, Hennepin Health Foundation board chair and member of the Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc. board of directors. “The Hennepin Health Foundation gives people a way to support the programs and services that make this one of the nation’s premiere public teaching hospitals.”
Funds raised by the foundation will be used to support a number of core areas, including:
- innovative patient support programs like the women’s psychiatry program for mothers struggling with mental health issues related to childbirth
- basic needs of safety-net patients through a Safety Net Fund that has already raised more than $60,000 to support the basic needs of patients
- researchers early in their careers working on proof-of-concept studies that enable eventual NIH funding
- advocacy work on behalf of the medical center and the patients they serve as the hospital faces significant budget cuts due to the termination of the state General Assistance Medical Care Program
“The foundation won’t be able to fill the gap created by the significant state budget cuts expected in 2010, but creation of the foundation – together with the significant operational improvements that we have made – are clear signals that we are doing everything possible to position this institution for long-term success,” said Arthur Gonzalez, Dr. P.H., CEO.
The foundation’s board meets for the first time today, Oct. 6, and includes members from leading businesses like General Mills and Target Corporation, as well as health care, social services, and faith organizations. Go to hcmc.org for more information about the Hennepin Health Foundation.
Hennepin County Medical Center is a nationally recognized Level 1 Trauma Center with the largest emergency department in Minnesota. The comprehensive academic medical center and public teaching hospital includes a 471-bed acute care hospital and primary care and specialty clinics located in downtown Minneapolis, and four primary care clinics in Minneapolis and suburban Hennepin County.
For the thirteenth year in a row, Hennepin County Medical Center is listed in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the top U.S. Hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” report.
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