Our Projects: Every year members of the Power of the Purse vote on projects they would like to support. Below is a list of worthy undertakings (donate to support these projects below):
- Helping Our Community: Resources for Seniors - Small group classes of older adults where they learn how to reduce their fear of falling and increase their activity levels. Called "Matter of Balance" the course has 14 classes, is evidence-based and works to decrease the number of falls in our community. This is one of Dignity Health's top mechanism of injuries, the ground-level fall.
- Helping Our Community: Resources for Seniors - Dignity Health partners with the Foundation for Senior Living in the “Activate” program to ensure that at-risk, low-income seniors are managed for 90 days post-discharge. Case managers ensure basic needs are met and their hospital discharge plans are followed. The Power of the Purse will fund necessary items like: medication, a walker, or even transportation to a foodbank, or transportation to a doctor’s visit.
- Helping Our Community: Healthy Children - To decrease the number of children and families who need health care services, Dignity Health uses evidence-based prevention programs. One community program is the “Children’s Dental Clinic” and funds raised will buy needed equipment, instruments, and supplies to continue to serve 100s of children who live near our hospitals. This year the women will also buy eye glasses for children at approximately $125 a pair and distributed in the Building Blocks partnership with AZCEND (They do the vision screenings).
- Helping Sustain Healthy Mothers: Cots & Blankets - “Maternal Child Health” department in the hospital is supposed to be a happy place, yet sometimes it can be a tough visit for families or mothers who lose their infants or end up with a rough delivery or unexpected surgery. A “cuddle cot” allows a family to remain with their infant who has passed on until they are ready for the next steps. Soft, warm “kindness blankets” will be presented to mothers who become gravely ill or are saying goodbye to their infant due to loss or adoption.
- Helping Sustain Healthy Mothers - Not all pregnancies and deliveries are easy. Many women end up with physical injuries or their infants stay for a while in the “neonatal intensive care unit” (called NICU). While medical costs are often paid for by insurance, families may not be able to buy the additional tools or books they need to improve the health of themselves or their babies. This funding increases the training of therapists working with families and provides more education, books, and therapies to see both mom and baby in a healthier place post-discharge from the hospital or NICU.
- Furthering Excellence in Health Care: Raising Awareness for Mental Health Needs - Research reveals that each year millions of Americans live with a mental illness and it is affecting our hospitals and caregivers. The Power of the Purse will fund awareness activities for our community, patients, providers, and staff about mental health.
- Furthering Excellence in Health Care: Building Resilience - Nurses who interact with traumatic events are at risk for a myriad of psychological consequences. This multifaceted nature of nurses’ exposure to trauma suggests that there may be a dimension of distress that formally qualifies as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Funds raised support a research fellow who will quantify the prevalence of PTSD in nurses, measure their resiliency, and provide resources to increase it. Follow-up includes measuring the skill-building to see if it had a positive effect and if the project could be replicated.
For more information, Contact Us.