Geisinger Health Foundation Impact Report 2021

Thank You from the CEO

When I see the progress that has been made thanks in large part to overwhelming generosity of our wonderful family of donors, especially in the face of the worst health crisis of our lifetime, it can be difficult to find the words that capture the gratitude I feel. This is one of those times.

Thanks to you and 4,442 fellow donors, we’ve invested more than $9 million into programs, research, education, technology, and more. Your giving touches everything we do, from expanding access to emergency care for children to conducting life-saving research and DNA screenings. Because of you, lives are being saved. More patients are benefiting from higher quality care and faster test results.

Your partnership brings longevity to our mission to make better health easier. Donors like you are a vibrant reflection of the communities we serve, where your generosity makes an impact that is visible every day.

The real-world impact you have enabled with your gifts is remarkable and shows there is truly strength in numbers. When we come together, people experience what it means to make better health easier, and I cannot thank you enough.

Jaewon Ryu, MD, JD President and Chief Executive Officer

Making better health easier through philanthropy.

Energized by the opportunities and challenges in healthcare, Geisinger boldly defines what it means to make better health easier. Thanks to you—our community members, patients, alumni, colleagues, and friends—we’re fueling this vision through philanthropy.

In today’s healthcare environment, the power of philanthropy to propel and sustain transformation is immeasurable. Your generosity advances patient care through research, reduces barriers to health equality, and trains tomorrow’s healthcare professionals. Your dedication to the community and support for those who need it most is recognized. Thank you for your generosity.

Philanthropy helps to ensure access to critical care when seconds count.

Geisinger Lifeflight funded by donors such as First Community Foundation Partnership

Increasing access to primary care in our communities.

In 2021, support from the 1994 Charles B. Degenstein Foundation brought needed primary care services and clinical wellness programs to Geisinger Primary Care Sunbury and the Multi-Specialty Clinic in Selinsgrove. A long-standing philanthropic partner, the Degenstein Foundation invests strategically in programs and projects in the community that measurably improve lives. Their generosity is enduring, and we’re incredibly grateful.

Geisinger Primary Care Sunbury

Thanks to the support of the Degenstein Foundation, healthcare services are available in a centrally located downtown plaza the 4th Street clinic, which is easily accessible to people who walk or bike.

Multi-Specialty Clinic Selinsgrove

The former Sears store in the Susquehanna Valley Mall was converted into a 25,000 square-foot multispecialty clinic designed to keep the community healthy and out of the emergency room. The clinic, supported by a partnership between Geisinger and Family Practice Center, promotes walk-in care with shorter wait times for non-life-threatening needs like primary and urgent care, radiology, and laboratory services. Thanks in part to the generosity of the Degenstein Foundation. the clinic also features a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen that offers educational opportunities for both community members and Geisinger employees interested in learning about nutrition.

Geisinger’s response during the pandemic was among the best in the nation, and this is a direct outcome of the equip ment which was purchased through donations.

- DR. DONNA WOLK

Lab upgrades for faster test results during the pandemic.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Geisinger’s lab was one of the few in the state that could do testing on-site, which meant faster results and greater preparedness. Donor support provided state-of-the-art equipment and made necessary lab enhancements possible at challenging time. The critical improvements mean we’re positioned to respond effectively with testing capacity in any future pandemics and outbreaks.

Lab technology funded by philanthropy:

• Hologic Panther Fusion system

• BioFire TORCH

• Abbott Alinitym

Benefits of new testing equipment included:

• Protecting providers and staff from the virus

• Speedy test results that led to early enrollment in clinical trials

• Peace of mind for families and communities

• Accurate identification so people knew to watch for long-term symptoms

Timeliness was critical during the pandemic. Thanks to you, we were not dependent on outside reference laboratories.

Philanthropy enables Geisinger’s cancer program to provide leading-edge treatment, advanced technologies and clinical trials right here in our local community.

RAJIV PANIKKAR, MD CHAIR, GEISINGER CANCER INSTITUTE

Elevating cancer care to new heights

Cancer rates in northeast Pennsylvania are higher than the national average, creating an unfortunate demand for specialized cancer care—and forcing more than 1 in 4 patients to travel out of their communities to access it. Frank and Dorothea Henry vowed to make advanced, compassionate cancer care available to everyone who needed it right here at home. Three decades later, new generations of donors are continuing their legacy. Bringing care closer to home where support systems are in place is a sure way to improve outcomes and quality of life for people dealing with cancer. The 92,150-square-foot, four-story Henry Cancer Center expansion features an 18-bed inpatient unit, a 52-bay infusion center and stateof-the art technology including the noninvasive CyberKnife S7.

Greater access to world-class technology and teams of experts who have dedicated their lives to delivering the best cancer care. This is what meeting patients where they are truly means, and none of this would be possible without your generous support.

Geisinger and the community coming together to provide better cancer care

Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, home of the Frank M. and Dorothea Henry Cancer Center

Building a brighter future for children in our communities.

Bringing care to where it is needed most

Expanding the scope of behavioral health services is critical to closing the gap between the need for child and adolescent behavioral services in our region and Geisinger’s ability to provide them.

Children aren’t just small adults. They need care tailored to their unique physiological, developmental, and emotional needs. Philanthropy empowers our care providers to address emerging concerns in pediatric medicine and work cooperatively in our communities to combat growing problems, including child abuse and neglect, self-harm, and suicide.

McDowell’s $1 million gift to support Geisinger’s departments of psychiatry and behavioral health is helping to launch innovative programs for young people. Her gift is intended to catalyze projects and programs promoting innovation in pediatric behavioral health care.

Throughout my life, I’ve been committed to helping restore children who have experienced horrific trauma including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. My heart and support are with Geisinger’s vision for behavioral health because I trust they have the innovative leadership and caring plan needed to make a meaningful difference. They recognize the fragility of young people who are struggling and are committed to an all-encompassing and long-term approach that will result in lives transformed.”

SUSAN MCDOWELL, PHILANTHROPIST, SELINSGROVE, PA

Innovating better health and saving lives

Genomics is the future of healthcare

Population health programs like MyCode and DNA screenings for patients of all ages improve the health and wellness of our communities. Not only do these programs prevent, identify, and treat disease, they give us a valuable opportunity to learn from every patient in our care. If we’re going to design the next generation of healthcare, this is how and where the work begins.

We depend on sustained philanthropic investment from generous people like you. In the future, DNA sequencing should be a reimbursable health care cost — and genetic screening and counseling should be considered the standard of care.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case today.

If it weren’t for your support, most patients wouldn’t be screened — and we wouldn’t be improving care based on our findings in important programs like these:

• The MyCode Community Health Initiative looks for DNA mutations that indicate risk for specific diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular conditions and other hereditary issues so they can be treated sooner — sometimes before symptoms ever appear.

RUTH TRINIDAD, BRCA2 POSITIVE IDENTIFIED IN MY CODE

Over 300,000 participants have signed up to contribute their DNA and more are joining all the time — making it one of the largest genomic biobanks in the world.

• Geisinger’s Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute improves outcomes for children with special developmental needs and is part of the Autism Center of Excellence Community Collaborative in northeast Pennsylvania.

Your donations helped fund a diagnostic screening app that leads to faster diagnosis and helps clinicians target patients who need critical early interventions.

through research.

I didn’t want to suffer the same fate as my mother.”

The need for scholarships is clear—of the 453 enrolled during the 2021/2022 academic year, 31 students received philanthropic scholarships, with many still in need of financial aid.

Receiving a scholarship can be a life-changing event for many of our students and we greatly appreciate your generosity that makes this possible. Medical school will always be a costly endeavor, guaranteeing there will always be smart, caring students who need help to achieve their dreams. As the medical school continues to grow, your support is as vital as ever to the local students we educate.

THOMAS CHURILLA,

CLASS OF 2013

Training local students, future physicians at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

Donors help fund scholarships to Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and enable our region’s best and brightest to become researchers, specialists and medical healers of tomorrow.”

MD,

Cultivating nursing excellence.

Our nurses are recognized nationally for their experience and high-quality care, and philanthropic support for nursing education ensures our patients will benefit from superior patient care now and for years to come. As frontline health care providers, nurses have a powerful impact on the quality of patient care. Continuing education ensures our nurses keep pace with new technology, best practices, and medical innovation, while also providing opportunities for specialized instruction and career development.

Shaping tomorrow’s nursing professionals.

Scholarships help offset the high cost of education, keeping it affordable for all qualified students who wish to pursue a career in nursing. This is particularly true in light of the increasing expense of providing cutting-edge nursing education. Geisinger’s fully accredited nursing degree program ranks among the best in Pennsylvania, which also means we compete for the best and brightest students. Often the most critical factor in attracting the best is the financial assistance available to them. Gifts to Geisinger Lewistown School of Nursing enable us to recruit and train the next generation of nurses and nurse leaders and relieve the debt burden these graduates would otherwise face.

GEISINGER HEALTH FOUNDATION

MC 40-36 100 N. Academy Ave. Danville, PA 17822 geisingerfoundation@geisinger.edu (570) 271-6461