USA Health Report on Philanthropy

Report on Philanthropy

Giving.

Helping.

Healing.

Your support helps patients stay close to home during treatment

Preethi Marri, M.D., a pediatric oncologist and hematologist at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital hugs former patient Teddy Prive during a bell ringing ceremony to mark the end of his treatment for cancer.

Leading the way to COVID recovery

T

he word ‘unprecedented’ has received much use over the past year in healthcare, and rightfully so. From the beginning of the pandemic, USA Health has stood on the front lines of this evolving landscape, and our team is standing tall with many hard-earned achievements as we close out 2021.

We are immensely proud of the eforts our healthcare professionals make every day. The expansion of USA Health facilities, like the new Fanny Meisler Trauma Center, has been crucial to our ability to serve our community as COVID surges swept through Alabama. We are grateful for those who have supported USA Health, enabling us to provide exceptional care to our community.

USA Health’s strength as the region’s only academic healthcare system has been evident, especially in times of health crisis.

Education, research, and clinical care are combined to provide the best possible care that uses leading-edge technologies, resources, and innovative therapies that aren’t always available elsewhere in the community. At USA Health, we’re not just utilizing the latest medical breakthroughs; we are developing them. We train tomorrow’s physicians and other caregivers, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to change lives.

In this report, the stories of perseverance, discovery, and achievement will inspire you. We hope you are encouraged by what you read in this Report on Philanthropy. We are grateful for your generosity, and we recognize what an important part you play in providing this caliber of care to the upper Gulf Coast region. Together, we are helping people lead longer, better lives.

Owen Bailey, MHA, FACHE Senior Associate Vice President for Medical Afairs & Chief Executive Ofcer

John V. Marymont, M.D., M.B.A. Vice President for Medical Afairs Dean, University of South Alabama College of Medicine

“The best way to fnd yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

100,000+ vaccinations administered to date

88,100+ COVID tests administered to date

15+

vaccination events for large employers on the Gulf Coast

4,000+ vaccinations to

community educators

Helping dreams become reality Pediatric cancer. Those two words can be devastating. For Cooper Kurth and his family, it meant three and a half years of intense chemotherapy to fght Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Yet it never meant the end of his dream – to play football.

After treatment at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital’s USS Hope infusion center, and years of working with personal trainers to build and rebuild the muscles ravaged by the disease and treatment, Cooper is a freshman at St. Michael in Fairhope, thriving and playing wide receiver for the Cardinals.

“This is all he ever dreamed about on our way back and forth across the Bayway to get his chemo treatments at Children’s & Women’s,” said Monica Kurth, Cooper’s mother. “He said he dreamt of one day being a football player. So how was I going to say no to that?”

Trips to the Pediatric Emergency Center, the uncertainty of whether his white blood cell count would be high enough to receive treatment that day and then whole days spent in the infusion chair when he could receive chemotherapy created hardships no child and their family should have to endure.

Through it all, they developed a second family in the staf at Children’s & Women’s Hospital. “The whole USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital team — the doctors, the nurses, the childhood development ofce — they were there for us, physically, emotionally and spiritually. They are just incredible people!”

“Dr. Felicia Wilson is so much more to us than one of the doctors who saved my son’s life; she is and will always be family,” Monica said.

Top: Cooper Kurth rests while being treated for leukemia at Children’s & Women’s Hospital.

Bottom: Cooper and his mom, Monica Kurth, smile for a photo after a football game.

The Kurth family never knew what each day would bring throughout their journey to healing, but through it all, their faith in God and trust in the staf at USA Health Children’s & Women’s kept their spirits alive. Like many thankful patients and families, the Kurths’ gifts of gratitude and support of important programs play a vital role in furthering the USA Health mission throughout the system.

We believe great things begin by sharing gratitude.

To learn more about honoring a care team member, go to usahealthsystem.com/grateful

Marie Migaud, Ph.D., professor of oncologic sciences at USA College of Medicine, is exploring how vitamin B may help patients better tolerate cancer treatments and slow the onset of other chronic diseases.

progression of other life-threatening conditions.

“Vitamin B complex is the oil that makes the cells’ machinery work like clock-work,” Migaud said. “As cells compensate for an imbalance, it can afect how cells work together. As this happens, it can lead to organ malfunction and diseases.

One gift results in so many discoveries In too few instances can you measure the impact one decision can have on the course of many lives.

Luckily, USA Health has one of those rare occurrences.

Several years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Byrum supported the research eforts at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute, resulting in the purchase of a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instrument that allows users to identify proteins and other complex molecules. It also provides detailed information about the structure, dynamics, reaction state, and chemical environment of molecules.

That piece of equipment was instrumental in bringing Marie Migaud, Ph.D., to Mobile from Northern Ireland.

In addition to the microscopic measurements Migaud and her team are able to make using the equipment in their cutting-edge research into metabolic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis and menopause, there are several other quantifcations associated with her prolifc lab. In just the past year, the team has published 17 scientifc papers and is working to fle several patents associated with the work.

Specifcally, Migaud, Abraham A. Mitchell Research Scholar and Professor of Oncologic Sciences, and her team are exploring the impact of a body’s imbalance of a specifc B vitamin as a way to help patients better tolerate treatments for cancer and diminish the

“In our lab we are particularly interested in metabolic diseases that stem from such imbalance, such as cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis and conditions linked to aging, such as menopause.”

“We hope that by gaining a deeper understanding of how vitamin B complexes are used by cells and distributed in tissues to sustain function, physicians will be better equipped to implement valuable functional nutritional strategies to slow the onset of metabolic diseases as we age and help address some of the side-efects of chemotherapies,” Migaud said.

These scientifc discoveries, made possible through vital philanthropic support, are some of the ways USA Health is transforming medicine. To support cutting edge research, patient programs, and the education of healthcare providers, please go to

usahealthsystem.com/give.

Supporting the next generation of care providers Becoming a physician has many rewards, including the opportunity to have a signifcant positive impact on the health and lives of a large number of people. Getting to that point requires a major investment. Medical students frst must earn an undergraduate degree and then attend medical school.

In the United States, the average cost of four years of medical school exceeds $200,000.

The University of South Alabama College of Medicine and its medical students are fortunate to have donors who provide generous support to the college’s scholarship program to help ofset some of the fnancial burden incurred by future healthcare providers.

Benefactors include not only alumni from the college who are giving back to the institution that helped launch their careers, but also individuals who have another connection to the college and want to honor a loved one. The resulting named and endowed scholarships are a lifeline for medical students as they strive to achieve their goals of helping people. The recipients are grateful for the fnancial support. But often, it is the reason behind the scholarship that makes it most meaningful.

In August 2020, at the start of the new academic year, third year medical students mourned the loss of a fellow classmate who died in a terrible car crash. Her family endowed the Samantha Alison Thomas Memorial Scholarship to provide fnancial support to medical students in need, that also exemplify the spirit and compassion Samantha bestowed upon others. This year, fve classmates were identifed as the initial recipients, including Melody Zeidan and Zach Aggen.

Melody Zeidan

“I hope to honor Samantha’s memory and to grow into the physician she would have wanted me to become,” said Aggen, who plans to go into emergency medicine.

Zeidan chose the USA College of Medicine because of its reputation for providing medical students with a world-class education and the students having the educational and clinical skills to succeed in any residency.

Zeidan plans to specialize in general surgery, focusing on underserved and rural communities in Alabama.

“I cannot express how much it means to me to receive this scholarship,” she said.

Deck your halls and enjoy culinary delights of the season, while supporting USA Health. usahealthsystem.com/ holidaymarket

Zach Aggen

Join us March 31, 2022 at the Soul Kitchen for a “battle of the bands” style event. usahealthsystem.com/ docrock

FY 2021 $15,510,095 raised in support of USA Health through the generosity of

impact by the numbers

$7,389,804 raised in support of the

Pediatric Emergency Center to meet the needs of more than

2,194 donors 40,000 $492,940 $585,000 1,112 new donors children annually

raised through the generosity of

in deferred gifts to create scholarship support for

$252,876 raised in support of ongoing Covid-19 pandemic eforts

$728,121 Net revenue total for

virtual fundraising events

73

our medical students

$5 million raised to purchase new

cancer therapy technologies

$76,999

patient assistance funds utilized USA Health endowment funds established or enhanced

to take care of transportation, housing, and medication needs of underserved patients

If you do not wish to receive fundraising requests from USA Health, please contact us at (251) 460-7032 or email development@southalabama.edu.