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How do you feel? Health-focused groups reach far and wide

Family and friends who have lost loved ones to cancer or have loved ones who are fighting the disease wrote their names on luminarias that were read by Deb Otten, center, before they were placed along the track at Fort Lewis College, where Relay For Life took place.

When it comes to health, many La Plata County residents don’t just exercise and watch what they eat. They donate. They do it to help others achieve and maintain good health.

One of the oldest, perhaps the oldest, nonprofit in La Plata County is Mercy Regional Medical Center, founded in 1882.

“The Sisters of Mercy started with donated land,” said David Bruzzese, spokesman for Mercy. “And the community immediately started holding fundraisers.”

The hospital always has provided significant amounts of charitable care. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, for example, it provided $5.3 million in charity care; $4.75 million of unreimbursed costs for indigent patients and patients with Medicaid; and about $530,000 in nonbilled services to the greater community, for a total of about $10.58 million.

Mercy Health Foundation is a lot newer, founded in 2000 when the hospital needed a new ambulance.

“Most of our giving is face-to-face,” said Karen Midkiff, chief development officer for the foundation. “We tell people what the greatest needs are and try to be very targeted. We don’t ask them to help with general operations. We spend most on services, programs, the equipment we need to make this the best hospital possible.”

Judging by the results, they’ve told the story well, raising more than $11.5 million to build the new hospital at Three Springs and $3.4 million to build the Comprehensive Breast Care Center. They are working to finish the $4.3 million campaign to build the Hospice of Mercy Experience, a 12-room facility where people can face the end of their lives in a caring place with dignity.

“It’s been more difficult because people find it difficult to talk about death,” Midkiff said. “But we’re in the final 1,000 part of the campaign – finding 1,000 people to donate $1,000.”

The foundation also raised money for a range of items including the Healing Garden, a place where patients can get outside the hospital and into nature, a 64-slice computerized tomography (CT) scanner, to pay for mammograms for women who can’t afford them and the Gray Matters Helmet Program, which has provided more than 2,000 helmets for young people engaged in sports where they run the risk of traumatic brain injuries.

The health-care segment of the region’s nonprofit sector is large and diverse. Other organizations include Axis Health System, which used to be Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center, now providing full health-care services to the community. School health clinics, now in a few schools, including Durango High School, allow students to receive care and return to class.

Smaller groups meet targeted needs. The Health Coalition of Southwest Colorado helps with life and travel expenses for people undergoing treatment for cancer. Our Place, a program of First United Methodist Church of Durango, provides a safe place for Alzheimer’s patients and respite care for their caregivers. The Southwest Colorado Area Health Education Center works to provide increased access to quality health care and to educate the community.

La Plata County residents also participate in national charities. Relay For Life, the American Cancer Society’s signature event, raised almost $89,000 in June. A Walk to End Alzheimer’s, a (Multiple Sclerosis) Society brunch and other events are held throughout the year.

abutler@durangoherald.com

Aug 23, 2014
For the common good


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