Huntington’s two hospital foundations have come together to help support much-needed programs and services in the community.
By Carter Seaton
HQ 113 | SPRING 2021
Marriage vows often include the words “and the two shall be as one.” When the 2018 marriage of Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center brought both hospitals under the umbrella of Mountain Health Network, that rang true for at least one department. The fundraising teams for both hospitals’ foundations started working together to coordinate fundraising efforts, events and gift processing systems.
Bradley Burck, vice president for corporate, foundation and donor philanthropy for Mountain Health Network, explained the reason why: “When Mike Mullins was hired to be the CEO of the Mountain Health system, he made it very clear that the foundations were going to be a part of the strategy to grow the system’s reach and improve care for patients. He’s done that in the last few years by creating a culture that values communication between the two hospitals, finding savings in purchasing and empowering people to find ways to improve patient care. His contribution to the foundations’ work has been vital — especially by creating the partnership with the Children’s Miracle Network and WVU Children’s Hospital. The success of the foundations is just a small example of what’s happening all across the system.”
He went on to explain in detail how things are working: “We’re bringing two foundations together and trying to find synergies between the two to lower costs and increase the number of partners and gifts we raise for both hospitals. They’re independent of each other; they have separate Boards of Directors, but the staff assigned to raise money for the two foundations all work for Mountain Health.”
Burck and the rest of his staff, Development Director Kristi Arrowood and Event Coordinator, Grants Administrator and Community Outreach Director Isabel Cross, were surprised to find almost no crossover among the donors to the two foundations. This gave them the opportunity to make new friends for each foundation.
“As fundraisers, we’re relationship people,” said Arrowood. “We love to connect with people; we love to get to know people, to find out what makes them tick. So, when a whole new world of people opened up to us to befriend and encourage, that was the exciting part.”
Helping the general public understand the importance of the foundations’ role in the hospital system is sometimes a challenge.
“The one thing people always ask me is, ‘Why do the hospitals need donations?’ It is a good question, and there is a good answer,” noted Cross.
“There are a lot of programs, equipment and services the hospitals provide that cost a lot of money, but for which there is no reimbursement or little reimbursement. How do you provide those things? A perfect example is the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital. A children’s hospital in a regional market is just not going to be a revenue generator — especially when you factor in all the costs to develop and build it. No executive is going to greenlight a project that loses money. That’s when the hospital foundations step in. We can go into the community and explain how this project will help people and make Huntington a better place — but in order for it to come to life, we need your help.”
Another example is the Neonatal Therapeutic Unit’s and the Maternal Opioid Medical Support (MOMS) program. The Mylan Charitable Foundation gave a significant gift that enabled Mountain Health to provide care for both babies and mothers who give birth while addicted to opioids. Another gift built a Milk Room, where each baby’s milk is formulated by an expert rather than the nursing staff; this allows the nurses to remain on the floor providing care to the mothers.
A lot has been accomplished in the relatively short time the two foundations have been working together. Two of their first goals were to raise $6 million and to create a unified database of donors. Both goals will be met this year. When the pandemic hit, annual events like the St. Mary’s Gala were canceled. The cancellations could have cost the foundations $600,000, but that didn’t happen.
“People were still giving,” said Cross. “For the first three months they were making masks, giving money for masks, gowns and gloves — anything we needed. When everything closed down, seeing people became very hard; but we didn’t stop. We could still call them and see if they needed anything — groceries, masks or just someone to listen. We consider them not just donors, but friends. That’s always been our philosophy.”
By the end of 2020, the foundations had hit their fundraising goals, even though they lost all their annual events. Burck attributed that to the relationships they had built.
“We didn’t stop caring about people,” he explained. “We changed what we did and we adapted to the scenario.”
Now, things are beginning to reopen. According to Cross, plans are shaping up for the year’s first fundraising event: Concert for the Cure 2021 on Aug. 14, 2021, at Barboursville Park. It will feature Tusk: The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Experience and 7 Bridges: The Ultimate Eagles Experience. All the money raised will go to the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center at Cabell Huntington Hospital and the St. Mary’s Medical Center Cancer Center. The St. Mary’s Gala is back on the calendar as well, and the yearly golf outing is also in the works.
Arrowood emphasized that building relationships is the key to the foundations’ success. “There is nothing more rewarding than building relationships, finding out what an individual’s goals are and then being allowed the privilege to help see their legacy fulfilled. That’s the goal,” Arrowood noted.
Clearly, the synergy they hoped for is working.
