Healthcare Foundation Announces $35,000 in Emergency COVID-19 Funding

Foundation releases targeted funds to help fight pandemic, announces Zoom seminar to support wellbeing, awareness during shelter-in-place

Sonoma County, Calif. April 24, 2020
Today, the Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County (“Healthcare Foundation”) announced it is giving $35,000 in emergency grants to organizations providing frontline healthcare during the COVID-19 crisis. With the support of a $20,000 matching grant from Mark Freed of Talon Creek Foundation, the Healthcare Foundation moved quickly to launch the Emergency Healthcare Fund to raise crucial funds for those most in need in the community. Boosted by Freed’s matching grant, the Foundation raised over $15,000 more from the community, with donations continuing to arrive in support of ongoing needs.

Grants from the Emergency Healthcare Fund are being distributed to the following organizations:

  • Alliance Medical Center: $24,000
  • Alexander Valley Healthcare: $6,000
  • Reach for Home: $5,000

The Emergency Healthcare Fund was created to provide immediate assistance to organizations in northern Sonoma County that are working directly with the area’s most vulnerable populations. More than 12,000 people in the community are on MediCal, uninsured or undocumented, and 170 or more are homeless.

“Our local clinics rely on MediCal and MediCare payments for regular appointments, but with patients staying away for all but the most urgent medical care, the clinics are in acute financial need, as are homeless services providers,” said Kim Bender, executive director of the Healthcare Foundation. “The rapid deployment of these funds will allow healthcare workers and homeless service providers on the frontlines to remain focused on caring for those who need help most.”

Emergency Healthcare Fund grants are unrestricted, allowing grantee organizations the flexibility to spend the money where it is most needed. Pressing needs that have been identified include the purchase of telemedicine equipment, paying healthcare staff to reach out by phone to high-risk patients, underwriting volunteers’ transportation for food deliveries, and caring for local people experiencing homelessness.

“We have over a thousand patients with chronic health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and respiratory conditions who need careful monitoring,” noted Joan Churchill, CEO of Alliance Medical Center, which has clinics in Healdsburg and Windsor. “This critical investment will allowus to purchase new equipment for remote monitoring, or telemedicine. As Shelter in Place orders are relaxed, vulnerable populations will still need to limit leaving their homes. This grant will allow Alliance to care for our most vulnerable patients over the long term in a way that best protects their health. We could not make this leap forward into telemedicine without this gift from the Healthcare Foundation.”

The Healthcare Foundation, the only funder exclusively focused on healthcare for northern Sonoma County, anticipates the health needs of the community changing as the global pandemic continues. To continue to help support the community in general wellbeing and awareness as the pandemic and associated shelter-in-place regulations continue, the Healthcare Foundation will offer a free Zoom panel discussion with local government and health leaders on Friday, May 8 2020 from 4:00pm to 5:00pm PT.

Register online for Health, Well-being and What’s Next, the free online seminar, to learn what citizens of Sonoma County need to be thinking about as Shelter in Place is lifted, and to hear from a panel of medical experts and state leaders who will discuss the anticipated new normal for the community as regulations soften, and provide advice on how we can all move forward together.

REGISTRATION: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_V5jLrpwxRSSzxl2IMPdKfQ

Health, Well-being and What’s Next: Friday, May 8 2020 from 4:00pm to 5:00pm PT
Host: Kim Bender, Executive Director, Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County
Moderator:
Laura Kimbro, DO, FACOG, NCMP, Center for Women’s Health, Board Member, HFNSC
Panelists:
Senator Mike McGuire, CA Senate District 2
Assemblymember Jim Wood, DDS, CA Assembly District 2
Gary Greene, MD, FIDSA, Sutter Medical Group of the Redwoods, Infectious Diseases
Susannah Labbe, PNP, Medical Director, Alliance Medical Center


About The Healthcare Foundation

The Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County is the only funder exclusively focused on the northern region of Sonoma County, through the lens of health. It is the leading proponent for creating healthier communities and relies on donor contributions to fund its work. The Healthcare Foundation has three focus areas for its grantmaking: health access, mental health and early childhood development. Founded in 2001, the Healthcare Foundation has invested more than $26 million to build a healthier region for all who live, work and play here.

For more information visit healthcarefoundation.net.

Media Contact: Kim Bender
(707) 480-8898
kbender@healthcarefoundation.net


Related News + Stories