Supporting Patients and Providers: Inspira Health Foundation

The coronavirus pandemic has created numerous challenges, but also catalyzed a movement of generosity, inspiring people nationwide to celebrate and thank frontline workers. As a non-profit health care organization, Inspira Health relies heavily on these philanthropic efforts to serve the South Jersey community. This year, Inspira’s fundraising arm, Inspira Health Foundation, has focused its efforts on helping the community respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Responding to COVID-19

“We never anticipated managing a pandemic, but thanks to our community’s support, Inspira was prepared,” said Nicholas Dalsey, Jr., Director of Development at Inspira Health Foundation. “Now, everyone is aware of just how important philanthropic contributions are and how much our community relies on them.”

The Foundation played a critical role in responding to COVID-19 by establishing the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, which transferred $1 million in assets to give Inspira immediate flexibility to react to the global health crisis. Specifically, it allowed Inspira to increase bed capacity, purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) and complete infrastructure projects to accommodate the surge of patients.

Still, community members wanted to do more—and the Foundation was ready to help. “The Foundation managed our community’s donations of more than 16,600 meals for staff, 1.5 million pieces of PPE and 2,700 homemade masks. To date, there have been more than 700 gifts to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, resulting in $174,000 raised to help Inspira respond to and recover from the pandemic,” said Dalsey.

Caring for the Community

Since 2017, the Foundation has received more than $24.6 million in donations and distributed these funds for a variety of needs including the establishment of community programs geared toward addressing obesity, food insecurity, substance abuse, access to care and mental health. 

Additionally, with the help of local food banks, Inspira Health Foundation has opened food pantries at three local schools to provide almost 5,000 families with healthy food, nutritional counseling and exercise guidance—all since just June 2019. Even at the peak of the pandemic, the food pantry at the Child Family Center in Millville was able to serve more than 375 families.

Funding the Foundation

The pandemic serves as a reminder that everyone depends on and has an obligation to support the strength and resilience of their local communities—and the funding the Foundation receives directly impacts Inspira’s ability to provide high-quality care to friends, family and beloved community residents. 

“Physicians are a key piece of not only Inspira’s success, but also its philanthropy. They are able to bridge the Foundation to the patient population,” said Dalsey. “The Foundation relies on our physicians to refer patients, and our physicians rely on us to fund their programs.” The Foundation survives thanks to patient and provider donations. So, the next time you or a patient are looking to give back to the South Jersey community, think about Inspira Health Foundation.

For more information, go to www.inspirafoundation.org or call Nick Dalsey, Jr. at 856-641-8290.