Grants
Supporting the Mission
The Salem Health Foundations supports the Salem Health Hospitals & Clinics’ mission to provide local, extraordinary health care to the people of the Mid-Willamette Valley. Part of this work is providing grants to support specific projects that address critical needs, such as expanding access to health care, funding health care scholarships, professional development and nursing certifications, or strengthening community health infrastructure. By channeling resources into targeted programs, the foundations can drive meaningful improvements in patient outcomes, foster preventative care, and support health education efforts.
Salem Health Foundation Grants
2023-2024 SH Foundation Grants
| Area of Support: Pediatrics / OB / NICU |
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| Perinatal Bereavement Support Since February 2015, SHF has supported the Labor & Delivery Unit’s program of supporting bereavement activities for families experiencing infant loss. In partnership with Fig Jewelry, the Labor & Delivery Unit provides custom made necklaces to each family experiencing infant loss. Since May 2015, they have provided an average of four necklaces per month, as few as zero and as many as ten per month. |
| Child Car Seat ‘Safety Net’ Program This project ensures that no child leaves the hospital without a safe ride home. These car seats are provided at no cost to families that either can’t afford the equipment or don’t have the proper equipment in their vehicle. The car seats are used by the Mother/Baby Unit, Pediatrics department, and the NICU. |
| Thermometers for Pediatric Patients A thermometer can be a life saving tool in early detection of severe neonatal illness, that left undetected can result in serious morbidity and mortality. Frequently new families have stated that they do not have a thermometer at home, and a fair number of these families do not have the means to purchase one before leaving the hospital. The grant from the Foundation enables pediatric hospitalists to give thermometers to these families who cannot afford them. |
| Stuffed Animals for Pediatric Patients Foundation funding enables the Pediatrics department to purchase 540 stuffed animals to give to children as comfort items. When children are admitted to the hospital they have painful procedures like lab draws, IV starts, urine catheterization, etc. Not only is the procedure potentially traumatic, but children often must be restrained for the procedure, further inducing fear. Giving children a stuffed animal to hug during these procedures helps to mitigate the fear and process the potential trauma before, during, and after procedures. |
| NICU Parent Advisory Council The Parent Advisory Council meets monthly via Teams currently. Pre-pandemic, there were 12 parents who would meet monthly while enjoying a meal together to work on quality improvement initiatives. Throughout the pandemic, there has been a consistent six parents that meet with the NICU staff monthly and two others who participate when they are available. In the NICU we average 400 patients per year. This project will provide gifts, crafts, social engagement, and treats to inpatient NICU families on a regular and monthly basis. Approximately 33 infants per month will benefit from the project and will help brighten their families’ day or lighten their load honoring monthly holidays and events that can be difficult to celebrate in the NICU. |
| Diaper Depot The Diaper Depot started as a vision from our Family Birth Center Clinical Specialists who recognized parents struggling. They mentioned that low-income parents were being forced to choose food over diapers as part of their daily decision making for their families. The cost of diapers for low-income families can be overwhelming and the need for free diapers grows in demand. In Oregon, over 150,000 children live in poverty. The Diaper Depot teams with local food shelters to help bridge the gap by providing free diapers for low-income families in partnership with 11 local food shelters and community partners as of June 2023. This is a 4% increase of diapers with trajectory to supply 115,000 diapers by the end of December 2023. |
| Area of Support: Cancer Services |
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| Softee Camisoles SOFTEE is a post-surgical camisole for breast cancer patients who have had a mastectomy and some lumpectomies. At the recommendation of the SH Breast Committee and with Foundation support, SH Cancer Institute has been providing appropriate breast cancer patients with a camisole since 2009. The camisoles can be worn immediately after surgery as it is comfortable and should be worn in place of a bra to allow soft breast forms to be placed as desired for a balanced and natural appearance. In addition, the camisole has a “roo” pocket to hold drains placed during surgery. |
| Community Breast Cancer Screening The Salem Health Cancer Center (SHCC) holds an annual breast cancer screening program for women in our community who may otherwise not be able to access these services. The Foundation’s support will cover the breast imaging services, including a mammogram for women who participate in the screening and meet most eligibility criteria, including being over 40 and unable to afford important health screenings (annual household income 250% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines). |
| Chemo Bags Chemo Bags Filled with Love was initially started by one of the Salem Health Cancer Center peer navigators, Lynetta, who wanted to provide items to comfort those going through cancer treatment. Those items of comfort include a fleece blanket, journal, magazines, puzzle books, snacks and hand sanitizer. SHCI delivers on average 60 bags per month to patients starting chemotherapy. Patients continually appreciate these bags and are very thankful of the comforting gifts inside as they start their cancer journey. |
| Mastectomy Fitter Position In Fall of 2022, the local store that provided mastectomy fittings for women with breast cancer who underwent mastectomies closed after 20 years of business, creating a service gap for this type of care. The SH Foundations reached out to a fitter who worked at the store and contracted her services to continue her work at the SH Cancer Center to help patients needing mastectomy fittings so they wouldn’t have to travel to Portland or Springfield. |
| Clinical Research – Augmented Reality Education for Patients in Radiation Oncology – Phase 3 This is phase 3 of a clinical research project started in 2020 to show how augmented/virtual reality can help cancer patients receiving radiation oncology treatment to see 3D models and visualization of their cancer treatments. This helps to decrease their anxiety level about radiotherapy and improves overall patient satisfaction with their cancer care. The manuscript has been accepted to “Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncology” and is currently in press. The grant from the Foundation supports Phase 3 of this Clinical Research, which has been published as Open Access and allows the widest readership and visibility for other medical peers. |
| Oregon Specialty Group Patient Assistance for Under- & Non-Insured Cancer Patients The Salem Health Foundation and the Oregon Specialty Group has a long-standing relationship of supporting cancer patients receive treatment who are under- or non-insured. Many who fall within this demographic are undocumented residents who cannot obtain insurance to help pay for cancer treatment. This partnership between the foundation and the Oregon Specialty Group enables patients to receive the chemotherapy treatment they need to battle cancer. |
| Colorectal Cancer Screening The SH Cancer Center is partnering with Salem Free Clinics to pay for lab testing fees for up to 10 patients for colorectal cancer screenings for under-insured and uninsured patients through a FIT (Fecal Immunochemical Test) which uses antibodies to detect blood in the stool. The tests would be processed through the Salem Health Lab Services, and the Foundation’s funding would help pay for the lab testing fees for this test of change. |
| Area of Support: Clinical Excellence & Resiliency |
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| 2024 Nurses Week Stipends With the grant from the SH Foundation, the SH Nursing Administration recognizes 20 nurses and 20 certified nursing assistants with stipends during Nurses Week in May to encourage and support their professional growth and development. Employees who feel valued are more engaged, leading to lower staff turnover rates. Professional development also supports better patient outcomes. We also achieve more certifications which supports our Magnet goals of obtaining greater than 51% of eligible staff reaching certification. |
| Resiliency Advocates Incidentals The Staff Engagement & Resiliency Advocates (SERA) provide one-on-one support for frontline staff during times of crisis. The Foundation grant allows SERAs to meet with frontline staff over a snack and beverage while providing counseling support to promote resiliency. The work of the SERAs has improved the emotional recovery and emotion thriving for the frontline team they support. It has also contributed to decreased voluntary nurse turnover. |
| Neuro Care Unit Healing & Respite Room Nursing staff is under an unprecedented amount of stress, leading to moral distress, burnout, and increased sick calls, and potentially decreased quality of patient care. The Neuro Care Unit on A7 West has completed some major reconstruction to one of their storage rooms on the river side to facilitate a healing and respite room for their team. Respite rooms have been adopted by other units within the organization and has been utilized as a Magnet project to focus on staff resiliency and reducing burnout/stress. The respite room will be available to all staff by badge access only during their shift for 15-minute slots. |
| National Diabetes Day Education National Diabetes Day Education Day is November 14th. The Diabetes and Nutrition Center hosted a lunch and learn to provide education to our staff and community with multiple booths staffed by Salem Health registered dieticians, and certified diabetic nurses. Currently there is a gap between inpatient and outpatient services, and this educational day is a great first step in using our resources to their full potential to better serve our community. |
| Professional Practice Day Posters Professional Practice Day takes place annually and is an opportunity to showcase the departmental project work within the organization with our peers. This is a growth opportunity for staff not familiar with abstract writing and presentation poster development to gain experience in a guided, low-pressure way. In the past, anywhere from 10-20 projects have participated in this event, both representing a great deal of showcasing and knowledge-sharing. The Foundation has generously assisted with the cost of printing professional quality presentation posters for this professional development initiative. |
| Cardiogenic Shock Awareness Campaign The Cardiovascular Care Unit, Cath Lab, and Cardiovascular Services units are partnering to bring organizational awareness to the early identification of Cardiogenic Shock. As such, they are holding a Shock Day event on September 13, 2023 with an educational speaker around lunch and educational booths with demonstration posters, and giveaways to help illuminate the warning signs of cardiogenic shock. Early recognition of cardiogenic shock can reduce patient length of stay, treatment costs, and may decrease occurrences of mortality. |
| Coding Conference – Registration Fees In preparation for the retirement of the Coding Specialist for the Cath Lab, the Cath Lab requested for funding assistance to enable two current employees to attend a medical coding conference in Las Vegas. Coding for the Cath Lab is very technical and difficult to learn. The coding conference will offer coding basics for vascular coding, nonvascular interventional radiology coding, peripheral vascular diagnostic and interventional coding, and coding for cardiovascular procedures. |
| Heart Month Popsicles To engage staff and spread awareness of heart health during the month of February – Heart Month – staff from the Cardiac Service Line (CSL) distributes popsicles to each unit/department. This is one of the activities the CSL has planned for Heart Month, which includes lunch and learns with SH Medical Group providers. |
| ASAP Training – Acute Stress Adaptive Protocol – Registration Fees Acute Stress Adaptive Protocol (ASAP) is a training to equip peer support teams, chaplains, and clinicians with tools and skills to decrease post-traumatic stress symptoms in people exposed to traumatic events. Seven members of the Staff Engagement Resiliency Advocate team will benefit with this training to be able to assess, recognize and provide techniques will allow the advocates to provide interventions for both individuals and groups of frontline staff in a timely manner. Providing real-time interventions minimizes the immediate and long-term effects of trauma events to help reduce burnout, reduce staff turnover, and to improve patient care. |
| Pi Day Cheers – Employee Appreciation The Salem Health Foundation provided 3,200 slices of pie for every employee across the Salem Health system for Pi Day, March, 14, 2024 to recognize their efforts and commitment to excellence. Blueberry and apple pie slices were made available to day shift and night shift employees at both the Salem Hospital campus and the West Valley Hospital campus. Sliced whole pies were delivered to all the clinics and regional lab for employees not based out of the hospital campus locations. |
| Area of Support: Patient Care |
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| A6E Therapeutic Activity Cabinet On A6 East, the General Medical Unit, they see many patients who have a baseline history of dementia or individuals who experience temporary delirium while admitted to the hospital. Therapeutic activity items such as coloring books, art supplies, stuffed animals, reading material, fidget toys, reading glasses, etc. are used as non-pharmacological items that will provide distraction and/or comfort to patients, which impact over 300 patients annually. |
| B5 North Patient Therapeutic Care Cart The B5 North, CDU/TCU Unit would like to create a holistic health program on their unit with the purchase of supplies for a care cart with items including lotion, essential oils, diffusers, and waterproof blue tooth speakers. The staff would receive training on the benefits of touch massage, music therapy, and aroma therapy with a goal to enhance the patient’s experience, reduce stress, anxiety and pain. |
| Volunteer Services Hospitality Activity Cart The hospitality cart is a service where volunteers take a stocked cart of items to offer to patients. Stocked items include books, magazines, pencils/pens, coloring books, sudoku, crossword, stress balls, reading glasses, playing cards, sleeping masks, manicure kits, etc. The intent is to help patients to ease their minds, relax, distract, and bring a bit of happiness to patients and visitors. Last year over 4,500 items were given to 1,957 patients and 106 guests. |
| Food Farmacy The Food Farmacy program helps patients who might not have access to food receive three days of food as they discharge from the hospital. Patients receive screening by dieticians. Those patients identified with food insecurities are eligible for this program. Food boxes provided include food for family members. The program also helps with outpatient diabetics and bariatrics patients. This project is a combined effort with the patients, dieticians, Nutrition Services, and Volunteers thanks to funding by the Foundation. The goal is to ensure patients have healthy food upon hospital discharge to aid in their continued healing. |
| Clothing Closet The Salem Health Clothing Closets are a way for staff to ensure patients leave the hospital surrounded with care and dignity. In 2016 there was one closet on campus that was managed by a few nurses from a unit and has grown with the overwhelming need. As the campus has grown and community need has grown, so has the need for patients clothing. We now have nine closets throughout the system including three SH Medical Group clinics. Many patients are struggling and often do not have clean clothing to go home in upon discharge. Having closets stocked with a simple variety of warm clothing is a way to ensure patients have some basic needs met. Items include sweatshirts, long sleeve tee shirts, sweatpants, underwear, and socks. The number of patients using the clothing service has stabilized to between 550-650 annually. |
| Underinsured SHMG Patient Self-Management of Chronic Conditions The goal is to provide essential self-care equipment for patients who cannot afford to purchase durable medical equipment that are essential tools for patients and providers in managing hypertension and congestive heart failure. Many Salem Health Medical Group (SHMG) patients are asked to monitor their weight or blood pressure so that providers can make adjustments to their medication regimen. Some patients have difficulty managing multiple medications. The use of medication organizers greatly assist these patients. Additionally, SHMG providers serve a number of homeless patients with few resources. These patients have challenges storing medications such as insulin and frequently have their items stolen or misplaced. The ability to provide blood pressure cuffs, scales, medication organizers, glucometers and insulin cooling cases to SHMG patients would ameliorate these issues and assist patients and providers to successfully manage these chronic conditions. |
| Patients in Crisis Partnering with SH providers and staff, the SH Foundations provides vital support to patients in need. Through this fund, patients receive small grants for assistance with copays, medication, durable medical equipment and transportation to medical appointments. The goal of this program is to reduce barriers to care and allow patients to focus on their healing. |
| Area of Support: Community Grants |
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| Salem Nurse Honor Guard The Nurse Honor Guard is a national group with many satellite chapters around the country. Volunteer nurses attend memorial services and perform a brief ceremony acknowledging the loss of a nurse. It is a beautiful and heartfelt ceremony that honors that nurse’s service to the profession. A local chapter of the Salem Nurse Honor Guard comprised of volunteer nurses will provide the Nightingale Tribute as called upon by Salem area funeral homes, churches, and local health care facilities. The funding will be used for informational brochures, the honor guard uniform/capes, Nightingale lamps, and flowers. |
| Central High School Youth Advisory Council Hygiene Kits The School-Based Health Clinic partnered with the Youth Advisory Council at Central High School to put together hygiene kits and do a campaign on what good hygiene looks like. The students created a quiz that all students can complete with facts on hygiene and each student will receive a hygiene tip sheet. Hygiene kits will be available for any student that needs one at the pantry at Central High School. |
| YMCA Adaptive Equipment The Salem Health Foundation contributed toward the purchase of two pieces of adaptive equipment to provide the Withnell Family YMCA members in wheelchairs with more opportunities to enhance their overall health. The EasyStand Glider provides opportunity for standing and enhances the benefits by providing active standing. The Rickshaw Exerciser helps make wheelchair propulsion, transfers, and pressure reduction lifts easier, promoting independence for wheelchair users an avenue for self-driven exercise and overall improved mental health. |
| Salem Free Clinics Increased Access to Healthcare The Salem Free Clinics (SFC) and Polk Community Free Clinic (PCFC) project will increase access to healthcare, behavioral healthcare and diabetes management care for uninsured/underinsured patients in Marion and Polk Counties. In particular, this project will expand their CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, which is a law that requires any facility performing examinations of human specimens for diagnosis, prevention, or treatment purposes to be certified by the Secretary of the Dept of Health & Human Services) waived laboratory services to mitigate barriers for patients needing basic and comprehensive metabolic panels, as well as lipid panels. They will also continue the expansion of their no-cost medication program for patients needing life-changing medications for diabetes management. The Foundation’s support will enable SFC to purchase the testing supplies and equipment for diabetes management. |
| Medical Teams Mobile Community Health Outreach Program In partnership with the Salem Health Foundations, Medical Teams International will have their Care and Connect mobile health program provide urgent dental care, primary care screenings for chronic diseases, patient education and counseling, insurance navigation and referrals to primary care and dental homes and other social services. This program will provide a holistic approach to care and seeks to improve patient outcomes among the highest-risk populations, beginning with one clinic in Polk County, Oregon. This mobile clinic will take place in January 2024 at the Ella Curran Food Bank in Independence, Oregon. Medical Teams targets populations that are disengaged from our health care system for any reason, including cost, long wait times for are, transportation, experiences of racism, language and cultural barriers, and fear. Partnering with community-based organizations ensures we reach those most in need of care, as these organizations have developed strong ties and trust within their communities. |