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Dedicated Endowment Sought for
Child Life Services
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A hospital can be a frightening place for kids. The Child Life Services department at Metro Health: University of Michigan Health makes it less so by helping reduce fear and anxiety for children facing medical procedures.
Metro’s five certified child life specialists support infants through teenagers, educating and reassuring them in developmentally appropriate ways.
“Our goal is to make hospital visits less scary, turning what could be a traumatic experience into a positive one,” says Megan Rogers, a child life specialist in pediatric cardiology.
Few community hospitals of Metro’s size have such a well-established Child Life team. Founded in 2009, the department serves children throughout Metro’s operations.
“Since the start, Child Life Services has been funded entirely through donations to the hospital’s foundation,” says Metro Health CEO Mike Faas. “It’s such a worthy program that we would love to create a dedicated source for future funding.”
Toward that end, the Metro Health Hospital Foundation is seeking to build a $4 million endowment specifically for Child Life Services, enough to cover the department’s annual budget. To jump-start the effort, Child Life Services will be the sole beneficiary of this year’s fund-raising gala, VITALity, scheduled for Sept. 23 at DeVos Place.
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Foundation Grant Supports
Community Mental Health
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When law enforcement officers respond to a crisis involving a person with mental illness, the interaction often ends with arrest or hospitalization. But other community resources might be better suited to the situation.
A $5,600 grant from the Metro Health Hospital Foundation will play a role in training local law enforcement to connect the mentally ill to those resources.
The $5,600 represents the final sum required by Network 180, the Kent County mental health authority, to secure a state matching grant. Together, the state grant and locally raised money amount to $50,000—enough to provide crisis intervention training to law enforcement personnel, dispatchers and corrections officers throughout Kent County.
The training will help law enforcement officers identify what they’re dealing with and how best to respond. Moreover, it will strengthen relationships between area law enforcement and mental health agencies, so the most appropriate resource can be brought to bear in any situation.
“Hospitals and jail cells aren’t the best place for someone experiencing a mental health crisis,” says Mark Herald, chief of public safety in East Grand Rapids. “This initiative is designed to improve care for the mentally ill, while reducing unnecessary emergency room visits and incarcerations.”
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High-tech Vein Finder Improves ER Experience
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It’s a frequent occurrence in emergency rooms: Patients arrive with hard-to-find veins, making IV starts and blood draws frustrating for all concerned.
Patients get poked more than once, nurses spend too long on a simple procedure, and special IV start teams sometimes need to be called to save the day.
That’s no longer a problem at Metro Health. Thanks to a $15,000 grant from the Metro Health Hospital Foundation, the ER recently acquired a cutting-edge vein finder. The VeinViewer Vision 2 uses near-infrared light and HD imaging to illuminate veins anywhere on a patient’s body, eliminating aggravation for vascular procedures. The technology is especially helpful for patients whose body type, skin tone or vascular structure makes IV starts problematic.
“Bladder scanner, x-ray aprons, baby warmer—so much of our ER equipment has a tag indicating it was donated by the foundation,” says Steve Polega, interim chief nursing officer. “This vein finder is just the latest example of how the foundation is helping us improve patient care in the ER.”
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A Milestone Celebration of Philanthropy
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Medical care never takes a night off. However, an evening out might just be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Join us as we celebrate an exciting milestone in 2017... the Metro Health Hospital Foundation celebrates 25 years of supporting the life-saving, health-restoring, round-the-clock care to West Michigan.
With three signature events throughout the year and numerous ways to support, we hope you will find it an effortless decision to participate in the festivities.
Please consider sponsoring one or all of our signature fundraising events this year to ensure our patients and the people of West Michigan have greater access to high quality care and real choice when they consider their health care needs.
To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, view our sponsorship brochure.
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Upcoming Events
Hope & Healing Luncheon | Tuesday, May 16, 2017 | Thousand Oaks
Metro Way 5K & 10K | Thursday, July 27, 2017 | Metro Health Village
VITALity Gala | Saturday, September 23, 2017 | DeVos Place
To learn more about sponsorship opportunities or ticket sales,
To view our sponsorship brochure, simply visit our website.
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If you would like to help us improve the health and well-being of our community with award-winning programs serving more than 250,000 patients and their families annually, please consider a gift to the Metro Health Hospital Foundation today.
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Metro Health Hospital Foundation | 616.252.5000 | [email protected] | metrohealth.net
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