Sanford Health Foundation2022 Regional Impact

outside of bemidji hospital

Bemidji

Total raised: $1.6 million

Total donors: 849

Total distributed: $1.5 million

two female nurses talking

Philanthropy at Work Bemidji

Facilities: 83%

  • Cancer center building
  • Physical therapy playground

Equipment: 10%

  • Behavioral health transport van and cell phone signal booster
  • Surgical table for orthopedic procedures
  • Four massage chairs for employee relaxation room
  • Heart patient recliner, blood pressure monitors for rehab patients
  • ICU technology, and more

Patient Care/Family Support: 4%

  • 3D mammography screenings for underinsured women
  • PETAL infant bereavement mementos
  • Long-term care priorities

Staff Education/Support: 3%

  • Thirteen $2,000 Mimi Diffley Memorial Employee Scholarships to help employees further their health care careers
  • Employee Crisis Fund assistance
  • Staff appreciation and self-care gifts, and more
Building groundbreaking ribbon cutting

Breaking Ground in
Behavioral Health

Meeting an increasingly urgent need for inpatient and emergency psychiatric care, Sanford Bemidji broke ground on the region’s first behavioral health crisis center in 2022. The center includes Minnesota’s only EmPATH (Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing) unit for adolescents and adults, and represents an important piece of Bemidji’s growing continuum of behavioral health services. Donors like you helped make it possible and remain critical in caring for the behavioral health of our neighbors.

“For someone who is experiencing a mental or substance use crisis, an ER can be overwhelming. The EmPATH unit will provide an environment that is optimal to de-escalate a patient’s crisis and help get them the tailored care they need right away.” 

— Ashlea McMartin, Director of Behavioral Health at Sanford Bemidji 

bismarck hospital exterior

Bismarck

Total raised: $3.1 million

Total donors: 3,436

Total distributed: $1.4 million

girl smiling

Philanthropy at workBismarck

Patient Care/Family Support: 48%

  • Services like nurse navigation and Child Life that are never billed to patients
  • Patient assistance to help with treatment-related travel, lodging and other medical costs not covered by insurance
  • Behavioral health services
  • Hospice services, and more

Equipment: 30%

  • Electric lift chairs for the infusion center
  • Home dialysis system
  • Mamava lactation pods for nursing moms
  • Infant vision screener for Watford City clinic
  • Biliblankets to treat infants with jaundice
  • Fetal echocardiogram probe to check the hearts of developing babies, and more

Education/Staff support: 21%

  • NDSU School of Nursing at Sanford scholarships to support workforce development
  • Super Tory newborn simulator for advance neonatal staff training
  • Radiology scholarships
  • Employee Crisis Fund assistance, and more

Research: 1%

  • Research study expenses and conference opportunities
Child being held with picture they painted

A Prescription
for Play

Trained in therapeutic play, recreation and educational techniques, Child Life Specialists partner with the entire family, including siblings, to create a positive and supportive experience for patients throughout treatment. Their priceless services are offered at no cost to families, thanks to donors like you!

“Child Life care was so phenomenal with all of their innovative ways to make an unideal situation a little more bearable. From the fairy princess costumes to all of the other activities that distracted our little Laurel from all of her fears.”

—Tom and Jenn Ehrhardt, parents of Laurel, a patient at Sanford Children’s Bismarck

fargo hospital exterior

Fargo

Total raised: $4 million

Total donors: 4,883

Total distributed: $4 million

two women talking to a nurse

philanthropy at workFargo

Patient Care/Family Support: 63%

  • Services like Child Life and nurse navigation that are never billed to patients
  • Financial assistance for treatment-related costs not covered by insurance
  • Safe Kids Fargo/Moorhead, which offers car seat checks, workshops and other resources to keep kids safe, and more

Staff Education/Support: 14%

  • Continuing professional education
  • Scholarships, Veteran Professional Development Grants
  • Employee Crisis Fund assistance, and more

Equipment/Facility Improvements: 13%

  • Bone marrow transplant equipment
  • Mobile testing system for cardiac rehabilitation
  • NICU NICVIEW 2.0 cameras
  • New heart pump for NICU flight team, and more

Research: 10%

  • Research in cancer, Parkinson’s disease, infectious disease, trauma care and more
Woman smiling

A Destination for
Hope and Healing

In its first full year of operation, the new blood and bone marrow transplant center at Sanford Roger Maris Cancer Center performed nearly 30 transplants and continues to expand treatment options for patients, close to home.

  • October 2021: First autologous transplant (using the patient’s own cells)
  • December 2022: First allogeneic transplant (using a donor’s cells)
  • Early 2023: Begin CAR T cell immunotherapy

Generosity for our Reimagine campaign—now more than 60% toward its $15 million goal—helped make the BMT program possible and continues to fuel cutting-edge research, staff education and critical services for patients.

“Donor dollars have made a big difference in providing the staff and care that made me feel more human…like I was a person and not just a number.”

—Kathy Score, one of the first patients to receive a bone marrow transplant at Roger Maris

sioux falls hospital exterior

Sioux Falls

Total raised: $6.2 million

Total donors: 5,967

Total distributed: $5.2 million

nurse talking to her patient

philanthropy at worksioux falls

Patient Care/Family Support: 37%

  • Services such as Child Life, nurse navigation and social work that are never billed to patients
  • Financial assistance with medication expenses and everyday wellness essentials
  • Hospice services; 500 doses of HPV vaccine for students in Ghana, and more

Equipment/Facility Improvements: 36%

  • Nineteen NICU Giraffe OmniBeds
  • NICU NICVIEW camera system
  • Twelve pediatric smart beds
  • Fourteen mammogram units for clinics across the region
  • 3D Quorum software for imaging
  • Ultrasound machines; audiology lab booth, and more

Community Benefit: 14%

  • Child’s Voice, a nationally accredited Child Advocacy Center dedicated to responding to, treating and ultimately preventing child abuse
  • Summer camps for kids with chronic health conditions
  • Financial assistance to families at Sanford Children’s to help with costs not covered by insurance, and more

Staff Education/Support: 9%

  • Employee of the Year awards
  • Employee Crisis Fund assistance
  • Conference travel and registration fees
  • Books and educational supplies, and more

Research & Innovation: 4%

  • Research to advance innovation in orthopedics and sports medicine, as well as treatments for breast cancer, type 1 diabetes, pediatric cancer and more
Image of mother and daughter smiling

A Castle Ruled by Kids
Fueled by You

Since 2020, our community has given than $7 million to care for children and families at the Sanford Children’s Castle of Care and the Boekelheide NICU. This total includes:

  • Gifts to the completed Sweet Dreams campaign, which supported Giraffe OmniBeds, a NICVIEW camera system and other NICU priorities
  • A lead gift to construct a playground at Sanford Children’s
  • A major gift to create Truman’s Closet, a new costume closet at Sanford Children’s
  • Ongoing generosity for non-billable services like Child Life, Child’s Voice, children’s camps and more

“On behalf of Harper—and all the children and families here at Sanford Children’s facing unimaginable battles—thank you for caring. We are strong, but we are unstoppable with you by our side.”

–Sarah Skajewski, mom of 10-year-old Harper, who just conquered cancer for the second time at Sanford Children’s.