Collins Grant to Hospital Foundation
Underscores Importance of Health Education
and Community Partnership
The Collins Foundation’s connections to Salem go back almost a Century, when Truman Wesley Collins and his sister, Grace, attended Willamette University. Salem non-profit organizations have benefited from the Foundation’s support since it began, in 1947.
The Collins Foundation Executive Vice President Cynthia Addams just announced a $75,000 grant awarded to the Salem Hospital Foundation for its Community Health Education Center project. “The Foundation, like its founders, appreciates values of sustainability, good education, nurturing partnerships and community connections. The Community Health Education Center exemplifies all those values and then some,” she said.
Addams, a longtime Salem area resident, said the grant helps to substantiate a fundraising campaign for the Community Health Education Center (CHEC), being constructed on the Hospital campus. “The Hospital’s plans for the Health Education Center are really novel,” Addams said. “The project reflects the desire of Salem residents for personalized, authoritative information about health care, management of chronic illness and wellness, all in a modern, relaxed setting.”
“This is a challenge grant, which requires us to find matching donations,” said Martin Morris, Ph.D., Chief Development Officer at the Hospital Foundation. “And that’s a good thing, because it gives us the opportunity to continue building relationships with individuals and groups who will use the Center. Those who invest…even $15 or $25…will have a sense of ownership in this wonderful center. Moreover, they’ll know that their contributions make it possible for all users to get free access to top-notch staffing and resources,” he said.
Beverly Schalk, manager of the Hospital’s community health education program for the past year, has worked in other health education centers. She said the Center will offer a “one stop resource for patients, families and the community. The Resource Center will be the most comprehensive I’ve seen,” Schalk added, “staffed full time with nurses and medical librarians. The Center’s wellness kitchen has already generated a lot of excitement,” she continued, “because, more and more, people recognize the connection between nutrition and health. Here, they’ll be able to see, hands-on, how to do it for themselves at home.”
In addition to housing a comprehensive Resource Center and wellness kitchen, the CHEC will also feature a group support room and a staff library available 24/7. To learn more about contributing and for more information about the project, see www.partnerneighborfriend.org or call 503-561-5576.
“We’ve been engaged in community health education for many years,” said Jim Griggs, President of the Salem Hospital Foundation. “The award from the Collins Foundation allows us to take a quantum leap forward in our fundraising efforts. By matching the Collins challenge grant with individual donations, Salem residents will be supporting a community education center and medical information hub that will literally help our city to attain and sustain better health.”