Published on August 22, 2023
OH Foundation Celebrates 30 Years
By Freddie Bourne Messenger-Inquirer
Aug 22, 2023
The not-for-profit organization Owensboro Health Foundation is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary of raising millions of dollars that have been used to create different initiatives and programs benefiting those in need.
The entity, which was established in 1993 as The Foundation for Health, “acts as a bridge between the community and Owensboro Health” by seeking funds regarding the OH’s core commitments and strategic imperatives and addressing the key health needs that impact the communities in its coverage area, according to the organization’s website.
“We are the philanthropic arm of the Owensboro Health healthcare system, … (which) means we bring dollars into the healthcare system from those who wish to donate, or provide a grant, offer corporate sponsorship,” said Tracy Naylor, executive director of the organization, “and they do that in support of the programs and services that we offer through the Foundation that are a complement to the medical and health care services provided by (OH).”
Naylor said prime focuses of the Foundation’s efforts are geared toward patient service initiatives that help those in their time of need — such as the C. Waitman Taylor Jr. Hospitality Suites at the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital for those wanting to stay close to a loved one during their stay.
Additional efforts include opportunities for regional access and utilization needs ranging from oncology and cancer services, cardiac and vascular care, women’s health and labor and delivery neonatal intensive care along with backing concepts to help advance the healthcare system — like OH’s Muhlenberg Community Hospital’s recent acquisition of the robotic-assisted da Vinci Xi Surgical System to assist with minimally-invasive care for gynecology, urology, thoracic and cardiac surgeries.
Other initiatives include addressing needs related to mental health, substance abuse, obesity and related diseases, lung cancer and tobacco use prevention, creating scholarship and workforce development incentives and many other opportunities.
Through the three decades, Naylor said the Foundation has raised just over $30 million, with nearly
500,000 individual gifts and grant awards being received and has secured over a total 12,000 donors.
“We have private donors, we have corporate donors, we have private and corporate foundations and we have received federal and state assistance through grant programming as well,” she said. “... You can see a lot of the repetitive history of a donor when you look at 12,000 individuals making 500,000 gifts and repeating their gifts.
“That speaks a lot to the team member support that we have, so we have a lot of strong employee- base of giving over the years; which is really wonderful.”
Wanda Figueroa-Peralta, the organization’s board chair and president and CEO for RiverValley Behavioral Health, finds the Foundation allows community members to help with many issues people face on a regular basis beyond helping those who are sick.
“There are social aspects of it — the stress within families (which) I think our employees are attuned to the needs of those individuals, to the parents who are struggling because they need transportation because they need a different level of support or they’re in between jobs because of the illness that (they) face in the family …,” she said. “They give back because they believe in the quality of the services ….”
Additionally, the funds look to help those working within the system itself.
“We support patient care, but we also support the healthcare providers and the Foundation has been providing funds for them to have a place to destress, have a safe place to connect and to recharge,” Figueroa-Peralta said, “because it’s quite important for you to recharge every day when you’re giving it your all.”
Naylor said the concept of the Foundation is based on collaboration and teamwork, which stems back to when the organization was finding its footing when the former Mercy and Owensboro- Daviess County hospitals merged in 1995.
“It was a bumpy transition within the community when those two hospitals merged, “ she said. “... The creation of (the former) The Foundation for Health was really an initiative to bring the community together with the healthcare system to give them a reason to believe in the transition taking place, and to follow that belief with philanthropic dollars (to have) them feel like they were a part of this new world that was taking place … at (that time).”
The Foundation is “very committed to expansion … across the (health) system,” Naylor said, which includes other OH hospital facilities in the region like the Muhlenberg Community Hospital in Greenville and the Twin Lakes Medical Center in Leitchfield.
“It’s not only very important to us to seek donors from those areas, but that they see us turning around and putting the dollars back into their community,” she said.
Naylor and Figueroa-Peralta feel the funding goes a long way — highlighting the recent creation of the Grayson County Medical School Scholarship which awards up to $200,000 by supporting a Grayson County student with medical school expenses in order to help them enter into a primary care, family medicine or internal medicine practice within the OH system in the county upon completion of residency requirements.
“You’re changing the trajectory of that (person’s) life; you’re impacting the community as a whole to ensure that there’s a primary care physician that’s going to come back at a young age, and will
plant roots and raise (their) family there,” Naylor said. “You’ve solidified health care in a very rural community for 30 to 40 years to come.
“Those kinds of gifts are very transformational and are incredibly powerful.”
“I think it’s planning not just for the urgent needs in the here-and-now, but also (planning) ways to address some of the common barriers that we have …,” Figueroa-Peralta said.
Naylor said the Foundation will hold an in-person celebration for the 30th anniversary recognition with its donors at 6 p.m. Nov. 11. Location of the event will be revealed at a later date.
For more information regarding the Owensboro Health Foundation and how to get involved, visit owensborohealth.org/foundation.
About Owensboro Health
Owensboro Health is a nonprofit health system with a mission to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities it serves in Kentucky and Indiana. The system includes Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, nationally recognized for design, architecture and engineering; Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital; Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center; the Owensboro Health Medical Group comprised of over 350 providers at more than 30 locations; three outpatient Healthplex facilities, a certified medical fitness facility, the Healthpark; a weight management program, and the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center.
On average each year, we have more than 19,000 inpatient admissions, deliver 2,000 babies and provide the region’s only Level III NICU. Owensboro Health physicians perform nearly 33,000 surgical procedures, including nearly 150 open-heart surgeries. Our physicians and staff have 90,000 Emergency Department visits and more than 1.25 million outpatient visits annually. Visit our home page for more information.