ST LUKES FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
MISSION: St. Luke's Foundation provides innovative support to advance compassionate patient care, research and community health. St. Luke’s was the first hospital in the city of Duluth. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church founded it in 1881 in response to a typhoid epidemic that was ravaging the city. What began in a small room above a blacksmith’s shop has grown into a regional healthcare system. St. Luke’s is now a multi-specialty hospital in Duluth with 40 primary and specialty clinics serving northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Lake View Hospital in Two Harbors, MN is a wholly owned subsidiary of St. Luke’s; a formal partnership with Cook County North Shore Hospital in Grand Marais, MN provides executive hospital management and support services from St. Luke’s; and a new partnership with Northern Lakes Surgery Center in Moose Lake, MN will open a new surgical and procedural facility there in March 2023, bringing St. Luke’s exceptional providers and services to that region.
About This Cause
St. Luke’s Foundation was incorporated as a 501 (c) 3 on February 24, 1982 for philanthropic community investment in St. Luke’s. Since that time, gifts, bequests and other contributions have enabled St. Luke’s to better meet the healthcare needs of the people we serve and give back to those who call our region home. St. Luke’s Foundation Mission: St. Luke’s Foundation provides innovative support to advance compassionate patient care, research and community health. St. Luke’s Foundation Vision: To create a better quality of life. St. Luke’s Foundation Goals: Patient Care – St. Luke’s Foundation contributes to new program development, patient services and equipment acquisition that enhance patient care and comfort. Research - Grants from St. Luke’s Foundation also fund patient-oriented clinical research with special emphasis on cancer, lung and heart disease. Research that will be crucial to improved healthcare options for not only people in our region, but globally. Community Health – St. Luke’s Foundation supports organizations and initiatives that lead to progress towards goals outlined in the Community Health Needs Assessment. St. Luke’s Foundation annually raises approximately one million dollars and awards between $600,000 - $800,000 in grants each year from car seats for newborns and wigs for cancer patients to support for major initiatives (Emergency Department and Heart & Vascular expansion and relocation) and renovations (Inpatient Mental Health Unit, Birthing Unit). Resources are raised through annual, employee, grateful patient, corporate, foundation, major gifts, bequests, trusts, special events and community initiatives in support of our mission and unrestricted grant program. Additionally, the Foundation administers 55 named funds for specific healthcare initiatives. Each year we host two major special events, a Benefit Tournament (golf, tennis/ pickleball, croquet and bridge/canasta) supporting our unrestricted grant program and our Circle of Light (dinner, recognition program, silent, live and fund-a-need auctions), supporting a specific project and/or program. Examples of Circle of Light funded projects include the renovation and expansion of the Infusion Therapy Clinic; the Surgical & Procedural Care Unit expansion; Birthing Center renovation; Mental Health initiatives including renovation of the 3West Inpatient Mental Health Unit and acquisition of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy for treatment resistant depression; a state-of-the-art Patient Care Call System for all hospital units; expansion and relocation of St. Luke’s Emergency Department; and support for St. Luke’s Regional Heart & Vascular Center as it relates to the expansion and relocation of the Emergency Department. In September 2020 and 2021, we held virtual Circle of Light galas. In 2020, funds were raised in aid of St. Luke’s COVID-19 Response Fund and to purchase a BioFire Torch for St. Luke’s Laboratory Services. In 2021, our 18th annual Circle of Light raised support for St. Luke’s Specialized Care Nursery. On September 9, 2022, we were back in person raising a record quarter million dollars for the relocation and expansion of St. Luke’s Rehabilitation services (the evening was appropriately entitled, the “Incredible Comeback”). Our unrestricted grant program consists of two rounds of grant-making each year (spring and fall). St. Luke’s healthcare providers, who witness patient needs more than any, as well as non-profits in St. Luke’s service area (17-county area in northeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and western upper peninsula of Michigan) are encouraged to submit healthcare requests that align with the Foundation’s giving guidelines and further its mission of advancing patient care, health education and clinical research. A state-of-the-art ophthalmic wireless indirect headset improves outcomes for patients by providing thorough eye exams; implementation of a new bladder scanner in St. Luke’s Radiation Oncology department ensures prostate cancer patients receive better quality radiation treatments in a shorter amount of time; replacement equipment for the Grand Lake Volunteer Fire Department keeps their all-volunteer first responders prepared for emergencies; five new automatic blood pressure monitors at the Chequamegon Clinic in Ashland, WI guarantee accurate readings for all patients; two new fiberoptic cystoscopes allow Urologists to appropriately assess patients while on outreach at clinics in Hibbing, Mt. Iron and Ashland; as stroke patients transition from acute care to home they and their caregivers are equipped with binders to track information such as blood pressure, blood sugar and weight as well as education and support resources; and funding to the North Shore Health Care Foundation is helping to provide dental services for low income children in Cook County and the Grand Portage Reservation. These are just a few examples of how recent grants from the Foundation advance patient care. Training the region’s healthcare professionals requires cutting-edge educational equipment. A recent grant from the Foundation provided funding to establish an Emergency Opioid Education and Naloxone Distribution Program to provide staff education and training as well as naloxone upon discharge from the emergency department for patients struggling with opioid addiction or those patients at risk for opioid overdose; the Maternal Child Health and Education Departments purchased a neonatal simulator, “Newborn Tory” who looks and feels like a real term newborn with soft skin, lifelike vital signs and realistic articulation to be utilized in St. Luke’s Simulation Lab for Level 2 Nursery classes, Neonatal Resuscitation Program classes, skills day and drills. St. Luke’s Clinical Nutrition & Diabetes Care Department was awarded a grant to help launch a disease prevention program to support those in the community identified as at-risk for diabetes teaching lifestyle modification, weight loss, physical activity and healthy eating. These are just a few examples of grants that further health education. Additionally, support for the Lake Superior Medical Society Alliance for the biennial Elementary School Health Fair which educates more than 2,000 area third and fourth graders with hands-on activities such as “How to Save a Life” introducing them to CPR methods, “Beehive of Emotions” where they focus on emotional and mental health, and steps they can take every day to promote their own good hygiene and health . An initial grant to the Duluth Police Department funded a “Train the Trainer” Crisis Intervention program for area first responders to help them deal with emergency calls involving citizens with mental health issues. A subsequent grant supported training for an additional 30 participants. Lecture funds established with the Foundation support continuing education programs and conferences for healthcare professionals throughout the region including the annual Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) Conference, the annual Emergency Medical Services (EMS) recognition event, and the annual BioEthics Conference. Scholarships for students pursuing careers in health care have been established by St. Luke’s Foundation at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the College of St. Scholastica, Lake Superior College, the University of Wisconsin-Superior, Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College and the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College. Support provided to the Mesabi Range Community & Technical College helped to equip their new Simulation Lab. Finally, two established funds in memory of St. Luke’s School of Nursing graduates provide scholarships for St. Luke’s employees pursuing their nursing career goals. Support for clinical research is found in four research funds administered by the Foundation – one for general research, two for cancer research and one for breast cancer research. The Whiteside Institute for Clinical Research, a collaboration of St. Luke’s and the UMD Medical School, funds research for cancer, lung and heart disease in addition to original research by our St. Luke’s physicians. Over the past 20 years, Whiteside has awarded 69 grants totaling $889,000. Results from these grants have leveraged $9.4 million dollars in additional grants. Support to Whiteside through the Sand Lake Shuffle Cancer Research Fund inspired researchers to discover that a gene mutated in cystic fibrosis also is a driver gene for colon cancer. Their work has raised the possibility that new drugs used to treat cystic fibrosis also might be effective against colon cancer. Quality and equitable health care is a prevailing challenge in our country and throughout the world. There is no easy solution. The unprecedented demands on our healthcare system and patients are greater than ever. St. Luke’s Foundation and St. Luke’s support and collaborate with partners in our community to promote healthy living. A grant to CHUM resulted in their ability to add a licensed psychologist to their Street Outreach Team to more effectively address the mental health needs of those experiencing chronic homelessness. Safe Kids Northeast Minnesota received a grant to help fund outreach activities in the Duluth/Cloquet area to educate children and adults about the most common causes of injury and present strategies to prevent them. Other grants include support for the Healthy Duluth Area Coalition (HDAC), “Think First” Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Prevention Program, “Parenting the Teen Driver” education classes, Advanced Trauma Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support training programs, Car Seat Safety Clinics, Parish Nurse programs, and the Bridge to Health Regional Health Status Survey. Without partnerships, we would be very limited in our outreach. We strive to converge our efforts and reach to improve the quality of life for all in our region.