Rural Healthcare

Overview

Pillars

News & Insights

Recent Grants

Our Team

Improving Access to Quality Healthcare in the Upper Midwest and Beyond

About

Over the past decade, Helmsley has been dedicated to making sure that the vibrant, tightly-knit communities of the rural, upper Midwest – many of which help feed the United States and the world – have access to the highest quality healthcare.

We invest in telemedicine, fund programs that increase access to behavioral health services, and support hospitals and first responders to make sure they have the best equipment to treat their patients. We do this by working hand-in-hand with a range of partners across the region – including but not limited to non-profits, health systems, law enforcement agencies, universities, first responders, and public health services.

To date, we have worked closely with partners across eight states – North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, and Nevada. The models that are proving to be successful in this region hold the promise to transform care in other rural communities across the country.

Pillars

Investing in Telemedicine

Improving access

Telemedicine is an essential solution for addressing our country’s healthcare crisis, especially for rural America. We partner with organizations to make it more accessible for patients, healthcare professionals, and providers.

Creating a gold standard

Our grants have helped develop the first-ever national telehealth certificate program to make sure telehealth care is high quality and consistent.

Bringing specialized care to hospitals

We bring specialized care to emergency rooms and enable virtual training for healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19 care.

Expanding Access to Behavioral Health Services

Expanding behavioral healthcare expertise across the rural Midwest

Our investments have helped build a 24/7 telemedicine behavioral health team. We fund training fellowships as well as telehealth.

Investing in new, innovative solutions

We support a pilot initiative that uses video conferencing to help law enforcement connect people with mental health professionals during an emergency.

Supporting new behavioral health centers

We’ve pledged $13M to help create an adolescent behavioral health center that will serve four states and include a first-of-its-kind behavioral health urgent care.

Ensuring Availability of Modern Equipment and Technology Wherever It Is Needed

Investing in lifesaving equipment

Our grants aim to provide connected-device Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to every first responder, as well as state-of-the-art diagnostic tools to hospitals across the upper Midwest. We’ve also helped deliver nearly 400 LUCAS mechanical CPR devices to rural hospitals to help respond to cardiac events during COVID-19 as well as in the future.

Meeting people where they are with critical care

We brought the first-ever Mobile Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) with a game-changing, super ambulance-mobile ER to the region.

In rural communities, law enforcement officers are often the first, and sometimes the only, people to the scene of a cardiac emergency. We funded 25,000 AEDs across 8 states to allow them to have this life-saving equipment.

Between 21% and 38% of all 911 calls are related to mental health, substance abuse, and crisis situations police are not adequately trained to handle. Virtual Crisis Care equips law enforcement officers with iPads that connect them to counselors, reducing involuntary hospitalizations and jailings in 80% of users.

Youth living in rural areas are at greater risk of suicide than those in urban areas. A $13M grant helped build the Helmsley Behavioral Health Center, which expanded mental health access, especially for adolescents, in South Dakota.

We invested in the world’s first ECMO truck, which brings rare emergency technology and practices beyond the walls of medical institutions. We’ve also granted $8.8M towards telerobotics research, potentially paving the way for remote surgeries across wide distances.

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News & Insights

August 15, 2023

AED Initiative Continues to Save Lives, with South Dakota Man Revived

A Helmsley-funded AED recently saved a life in South Dakota. Before our AED initiative began, "just basic CPR was all we could do until an...

July 27, 2023

Helmsley Charitable Trust Grants $2.5 Million to Help Sheridan Memorial Hospital Bring Innovative Behavioral Health Model to Wyoming

Sheridan, July 27, 2023 —The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has granted $2.5 million to help Sheridan Memorial Hospital implement an innovative behavioral...

July 27, 2023

New Telehealth Certification and Training Offered by American Heart Association and Helmsley Partnership

Our recent grant to the American Heart Association will establish a new telehealth certification program. Telehealth is here to stay, and "the explosion of telehealth...

July 1, 2023

Montana Man Saved by Helmsley-Funded AED

After a Montana man suffered a cardiac arrest, Stillwater County Sheriff Deputy Daylon Richard was first on the scene. He administered the AED, and successfully revived the man, saving his life and paving the way for his full recovery. “We deal with a lot of pain and suffering in this job sometimes. And just knowing I could do something that…

June 28, 2023

Helmsley Grant Creates First-Ever Psychiatry Residency Program in Montana, Daily Yonder Reports

Helmsley’s $3 million grant to the Billings Clinic in Montana created the state’s first psychiatry residency program. “Your physician to population shortage ratio is extreme in a lot of these upper Midwestern states,” Helmsley Trustee Walter Panzirer said. This grant aims to increase the number of psychiatrists in the state; a previous internal medicine rural residency program resulted in 60%…

May 31, 2023

Inside Philanthropy Features Walter Panzirer and Helmsley's Rural Mental Health Grantmaking

Helmsley Trustee Walter Panzirer sat down with Inside Philanthropy to discuss Helmsley’s rural mental health grantmaking portfolio. “We face an all-hands-on-deck moment to address current needs,” Panzirer said, adding that “philanthropy can often act more nimbly than local, state or federal governments, and we are in a fortunate position to help transform care in communities with novel solutions that respond…

April 20, 2023

Holy Rosary Healthcare Receives $6 Million Grant from Helmsley Charitable Trust to Support Construction of Comprehensive Cancer Center Serving Eastern Montana

MILES CITY, April 20, 2023 – Holy Rosary Healthcare, part of Intermountain Health, is excited to announce that it has received a $6 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to support the construction of a new comprehensive cancer center serving eastern Montana.

April 12, 2023

Helmsley Charitable Trust Grants $3.5M for Completion of Ice Age Fossils State Park

LAS VEGAS, April 12, 2023 — The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has granted $3.5 million to the state of Nevada for the completion of outdoor amenities at Ice Age Fossils State Park, a 315-acre property rich in Pleistocene-era fossils located about 10 miles north of downtown Las Vegas. Once this important phase of the project is complete,…

April 11, 2023

The Daily Yonder Features Walter Panzirer and Helmsley AED Initiative

Walter Panzirer, a Helmsley trustee, discussed our AED initiative, which aims to put AEDs in every law enforcement officer’s vehicle across eight states.

Rural Healthcare by the Numbers

$600+

MILLION

committed

593

GRANTS

awarded

STATES

reached

Recent Grants

Sheridan County Memorial Hospital Foundation

Amount: $ 2,500,000.00
Term of Grant: 12 Months
Date of Award: 04.26.2023

Humboldt County Memorial Hospital

Amount: $ 172,813.00
Term of Grant: 36 Months
Date of Award: 03.14.2023

Mille Lacs Health System

Amount: $ 80,263.00
Term of Grant: 36 Months
Date of Award: 03.14.2023

University of Iowa

Amount: $ 598,942.00
Term of Grant: 36 Months
Date of Award: 02.22.2023

Incline Village Community Hospital Foundation

Amount: $ 1,938,683.00
Term of Grant: 12 Months
Date of Award: 02.22.2023

VIEW ALL GRANTS

Recent Grants

Sheridan County Memorial Hospital Foundation

Humboldt County Memorial Hospital

Mille Lacs Health System

University of Iowa

Incline Village Community Hospital Foundation

Our Team

Mitch Krebs is the Program Director of Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program which seeks to improve access to and quality of care in the upper Midwest. Prior to joining Helmsley, Mi ...

Mitchell Krebs

Program Director

Wayne Booze is a Program Officer for the Helmsley Charitable Trust's Rural Healthcare Program. Currently, he is focusing on the expansion of access to the best standard of diagnostic care for wo ...

Wayne Booze

Program Officer

Kristen Bunt is a Program Officer for the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program. Kristen brings more than 25 years of healthcare experience to her role as Program Officer. In th ...

Kristen Bunt

Program Officer

Scott Johnson is a Program Officer for the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program. In this role, Scott assists with Helmsley’s efforts in rural behavioral healthcare. ...

Scott Johnson

Program Officer

Elizabeth Ruen is a Program Officer for the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program. In this role, she oversees a growing portfolio of healthcare delivery, cancer care, and conser ...

Elizabeth Ruen

Program Officer

April Dewey is an Associate Program Officer for Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program which is dedicated to ensuring communities of the rural upper Midwest have access to the highest quality hea ...

April Dewey

Associate Program Officer

Alicia Cotton is the Executive Assistant for the Rural Healthcare Program in Helmsley’s Sioux Falls office. Born and raised in South Dakota, Alicia has been dedicated to many loca ...

Alicia Cotton

Executive Assistant

Maria Nevarez is the Administrative Assistant for the Rural Healthcare and Vulnerable Children in Sub-Saharan Africa Programs. She provides scheduling, travel, and expense reporting support for ...

Maria Nevarez

Administrative Assistant (also Vulnerable Children in Sub-Saharan Africa)