Goals

In 2009, the Helmsley Charitable Trust created its Rural Healthcare Program to improve access to and quality of care in the upper Midwest. Working closely with our nonprofit implementing partners, the program invests in projects that improve healthcare delivery and strengthen the healthcare workforce.  

COVID-19 Update: June 8, 2020

In late March as COVID-19 began to sweep across the U.S., our Rural Healthcare Program went into emergency response mode with an eye on how we could make a difference now that would yield impact even after the crisis abates. To date, we’ve focused on two pathways.

First, with many intensive care units needing to recruit non-ICU personnel in their all-hands-on-deck response – not all of whom have recent experience using oxygenation and ventilation– training became an urgent need. Longtime grantee, the American Heart Association, created an online hub with refresher content, which has been viewed over 140,000 times by frontline healthcare workers to date - improving their confidence and ability to provide the best possible care and outcomes. These personnel will carry this knowledge with them for emergency situations that arise long after COVID.

Second, as early as March evidence suggested that 20% of COVID-19 patients experience cardiac events during their COVID-19 treatment and after surviving the virus. This is why, across several states that are the focus of our program’s grantmaking, we supported the purchase of 367 LUCAS mechanical CPR devices to enable providers to respond to cardiac events while minimizing their risk of infection, or compromising their personal protective equipment. In April, we focused on enabling rural hospitals to procure these devices, and by May 11, all of them were in place. This nearly $5 million effort is providing invaluable support post-crisis, too, as the LUCAS devices continue to enhance care for cardiac patients while some states move past their peaks in infection rates.

Strategy

Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program funds innovative projects that use information technologies to connect rural populations to specialty medical care, bring the latest medical therapies to patients in remote areas, provide state-of-the-art training for rural hospitals and EMS personnel, and foster incentives for healthcare personnel to train and serve in rural areas.  The program awards grants in the upper Midwest states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, and Montana.