JACKSON, Wyo. — This Old Bill’s giving season, help support St. John’s Health Foundation, the 501c3 dedicated to supporting our community-owned hospital, St. John’s Health. The Foundation’s mission is to support the hospital through, capital equipment and facility expansion, staff professional development and patient support. Over the past year, due to supporters like you, we’ve been able to support St. John’s in all three arenas.
Capital Equipment
It takes an exceptional community hospital to support an extraordinary community. And it takes an extraordinary community to support an exceptional community hospital.
Our role at the Foundation is to reinforce that relationship by raising funds for programs that enhance and advance our hospital’s services, capabilities and capacities.
Last year, our loyal donors supported the purchase of a second tomosynthesis machine. This purchase was in response to long wait times for screening mammograms due to an increase in local demand. In some cases, patients had to wait over six weeks for their appointment.
The additional tomosynthesis machine has been operating for several months now. Director of Diagnostic Imagining Tiffany Logan recently reported that their department has experienced a reduction in wait times from six weeks to six to ten days for both screening mammograms and diagnostic mammograms. Year-to-date screening mammograms are up nine percent and May was a record month with 410 screens. Logan shared that they’ve never been close to 400 before. This drastic change in patient experience wouldn’t have been possible without this community’s support.
Staff Professional Development
Education is a vital component of forwarding the St. John’s Health mission. At the Foundation, we do this by supporting the staff who provide your care. Our Employee Scholarship Program offers educational support to employees who want to advance their skills and education within their field.
Earlier this summer, the Employee Scholarship committee approved a new round of applications for employee professional development scholarships. This action will allow Coordinators to become CNAs, CNA s to become RNs and for RN’s to become Family Nurse Practitioners. This is just one example of how the Foundation and its loyal donors invest in the people and future of St. John’s.
Patient Support
One of the most recent examples of how the Foundation supports patients is through the Parental Mental Wellness Program. Local resident, Deirdre Griffith raised funds needed to start this program as a part of her quest to participate in the Mongolian Derby, a 621-mile race across the Mongolian Steppe. As someone who struggled with postpartum depression herself, Griffith’s support and the program that precipitated from it connects new parents with the mental health resources they might need.
Before parents and their newborns are discharged, doctors and nurses at St. John’s share information about mental health resources available to them at no cost. Lactation consultants, who are already calling every patient at weeks two and four, are now conducting mental health screenings and can provide referrals within the St. John’s network within 24 hours.
This is just a small glimpse of what we do at St. John’s Health Foundation and your generous donations make this work possible. The team at the Foundation will continue to support St. John’s Health in every way possible, and want to extend gratitude to each and every community member for being partners in that support. The Foundation is currently looking to the future and planning the most strategic way that it can support the future success of St. John’s. Your gifts are an investment in St. John’s Health’s long-term viability—and your help makes this vision possible.
To learn more about St. John’s Health Foundation and how your generous contributions support the community hospital in an ever-changing landscape, visit: stjohnsfoundation.health.
