Marquette General Foundation

For You. For the U.P. For Life

Proposed Priorities for Philanthropic Support
Fiscal Year 2012

The Marquette General Foundation, working closely with hospital administration and the MGHS Board of Directors, has identified the proposed priorities for philanthropic support in Fiscal Year 2012 (beginning July 1, 2011).

“We’re very excited to work with our health system on these funding priorities,” said Pat Bray, president of the Marquette General Foundation. “Our No. 1 priority is to raise money for the health system so it can invest in new technologies and services to better serve our patients. We’re very optimistic that our local community and region will embrace these priorities and generously support with a charitable gift.”

Here are the funding priorities, beginning with the Patient Room Renovation.  

Patient Room Renovation

See Case for Support

  Marquette General will be making a capital fund commitment to upgrade patient rooms beginning in Fiscal Year 2012 (July 1, 2011).   The scope of the commitment will be determined during the budget process and will include the creation of a demonstration patient room this fiscal year.

  The two-fold benefit of this project will be more modern, comfortable rooms for patients and their families to greatly enhance the in-patient experience and it will provide physician, nurses and other care providers with improved access to provide outstanding patient care.  

  Our community will support this project as it will directly improve the experience of patients as many potential donors will have stayed in the rooms or visited loved ones during their stay.  This project offers naming opportunities for grateful patients and families, major gift donors and prospects, as well as businesses and service groups from across the Upper Peninsula.

  A naming gift of $15,000 (spread over one or two years) will cover the cost of the physical renovation and new furnishings except for a new patient bed.  The latter will be a hospital expense included within the capital budget.

Equipment Priorities

  MGHS Executive Leadership identified the following equipment as high need patient satisfiers which have not been able to make the list of items purchased with the restraints on capital funds.  A number of these items have been requested by departments in more than one budget cycle.

Stereotactic breast biopsy machine – Up to $155,000

See Case for Support

Using a hollow-needle this equipment removes a piece of the suspect tissue for analysis.  The recent upgrades to digital mammography at MGHS have enhanced images to the point our physicians are diagnosing very small lesions and calcifications.  The new biopsy machines enhanced capabilities will further enhance cancer care at Marquette General by allowing these types of cancers to be biopsied as well.

Patient lift equipment – Approximately $50,000

Patient safety is a national priority as are reducing injuries to care givers caused by the movement of larger patients during the care.   A list of specific equipment will be developed based on the needs of the individual nursing floors and the Emergency Department.   Recently the Foundation funded two ceiling lifts for the Critical Care Unit and the response from care givers is extremely positive.

Bladder scanners – Approximately $10,000 each

See Case for Support

This equipment is in particular one the nursing floors very much want to have as it makes many patients’ experience so much more pleasant.   By having the ability to quickly, easily, and non-intrusively evaluate the fullness of a patient’s bladder, it prevents the need for catheterization for many surgical and other patients.   This is probably one of the most borrowed pieces of equipment on the floors.  By providing one to each floor patients receive better care and staff can be more efficient in providing that care.

Cardiac defibrillators – Approximately $10,000 each

See Case for Support

In-hospital first responders equipped with a LIFEPAK 20e defibrillator and monitor can make the lifesaving difference for victims of cardiac arrest.  The American Heart Association recommends first responders be authorized and trained to administer the initial shock, rather than waiting for the arrival of the resuscitation team.  

The LIFEPAK 20e defibrillator is highly intuitive to use and adapts to various patient environments. It combines an automated external defibrillator (AED) function for the infrequent, Basic Life Support-trained responder with manual capability so that Advanced Life Support-trained clinicians can quickly and easily deliver advanced diagnostic and therapeutic care.   Ten are needed in the hospital to upgrade earlier models.

Infusion pump enhancement – Approximately $22,000

An infusion pump infuses fluids, medication, or nutrients into a patient’s circulatory system, generally intravenously.  Infusion pumps can administer fluids in ways that would be impractically expensive or unreliable if performed manually.   They can administer as little as 0.1 mL per hour injections (too small for a drip), injections every minute, or fluids whose volumes vary by the time of day.  This funding would upgrade existing infusion pumps to allow the capability to provide more than one drug at a time through two channels.