When it comes to fundraising in a hospital setting, Hancock Regional Hospital is in good hands. The Volunteer Services team puts a lot of time and effort every year into ensuring that funds are raised so that various departments within the hospital are able to provide programs and complete purchases to create the high-quality patient experience for which Hancock Health is known. We spoke to Elizabeth Preston, Volunteer Services Manager, about what they have been able to accomplish in the past as well as what they have in store for this quarter.
COVID changed everything
Volunteer Services is able to raise money for grants via fundraisers and proceeds from the hospital gift shop. “Each month,” says Preston, “we try to have one to two fundraisers here at the hospital. With COVID, that has looked a little different.” Indeed, COVID has managed to change many of the day-to-day interactions we were so accustomed to prior to the global pandemic and quarantine. Healthcare workers have to work overtime to provide care to those who are ill with the virus, which comes on top of the work they were already doing for those with more common, but nonetheless important, ailments.
COVID has had a great impact on the fundraising at Hancock Regional as a non-profit hospital dedicated to helping the community. Limitations impact who is allowed to visit the hospital, which has caused sales in the gift shop to decline. Furthermore, fundraisers cannot be advertised to the public, which means the Volunteer Services team must rely on internal purchases to raise money for grants.
Past successes
Money raised through the fundraisers and gift shop purchases goes into an account and is then distributed in the form of grants for various hospital departments. “Last year, approximately $75,000 was given, ranging from $25,000 for our mental health campaign, $15,000 for the sleep center, and $12,000 for security equipment. There was a total of 19 grants awarded,” says Preston about her team’s outstanding contribution to the hospital and community of Hancock County.
Waiting for a “normal rhythm”
This year, with COVID still holding strong, the team will likely see a decrease in the funds raised and, therefore, a decrease in the amount given out as grants in 2021. Hancock Regional Hospital will still provide high-quality care as always, but the team at Volunteer Services is hoping that their ability to raise funds will increase once things get back to a more normal rhythm, and they will see more proceeds coming in from the gift shop, too.
No matter when that “normal” returns, Hancock Regional Hospital is grateful for this team for working so hard to ensure the continued excellence in state-of-the-art care that patients have come to trust.
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