For Immediate Release

For more information, contact:
Heather Logelin, 715-426-4503

Kinnickinnic Health Foundation Now River Falls Area Hospital Foundation

RIVER FALLS, WISC. 07/02/2009--The board of the Kinnickinnic Health Foundation has voted to strengthen its relationship with River Falls Area Hospital and to change the foundation’s name to “River Falls Area Hospital Foundation.”

While the foundation’s focus will continue to be the health of the region served by the hospital, the work of the foundation will be more closely tied to the hospital and its strategic priorities, including its initiatives to prevent illness and promote health. The foundation will support the hospital, which in turn works to meet the health needs of the community.

(Read a Frequently Asked Questions document on the River Falls Area Hospital Foundation.)

“This is an exciting time for the hospital and the foundation,” said Lori Peterson, chair of the foundation’s board of directors. “The health care environment is changing rapidly, our region continues to grow, and new developments in evidence-based medicine are showing health care providers how to deliver even better care to their patients and communities. The foundation is proud to commit to supporting the hospital as it provides exceptional care to its patients while working with its community partners to improve community health.”

As a not-for-profit organization, River Falls Area Hospital is committed to its mission, “To serve our communities by providing exceptional care, as we prevent illness, restore health and provide comfort to all who entrust us with their care.”

“The hospital reinvests in the region by supporting services and programs that help improve community health,” said Heather Logelin, executive director of the foundation. “Unfortunately, many of the programs that work best to improve health are not covered by insurance companies. When a service is covered, reimbursement is often less than what it cost the hospital to provide the care. In addition, more and more of our patients are uninsured and unable to pay for the care they receive, resulting in unprecedented increases in charity care write-offs and bad debt.

Collectively, these forces have decreased the resources available to help the hospital grow and respond to the needs of this region. The River Falls Area Hospital Foundation will help ensure that our hospital has the resources it needs to continue to provide excellent care right here in River Falls, both inside the walls of our hospital and in the communities we serve.”

Logelin provided two examples of how this relationship will work:

(1) The foundation is currently raising money to help the hospital purchase an endobronchial ultrasound machine, also called an “EBUS." This high-tech instrument provides a non-surgical way to assess a patient’s lymph nodes to determine if cancer has spread to other parts of the body. The EBUS will help patients avoid unnecessary surgeries, lengthy hospital stays, and high medical bills. In other words, it will help our surgeons provide the best possible care right here at River Falls Area Hospital. However, given the limited capital resources in this current economic climate, we are unlikely to purchase the EBUS without local philanthropic support.

(2) The hospital’s emergency department manager recently approached the foundation about her desire to launch a falls prevention program in our region. She knows that we’re doing a great job working with at-risk patients while they’re in the hospital, but would like to see us doing more to coordinate care after discharge, to help prevent subsequent falls. She would also like to see us reaching out into the community, partnering with the local ambulance companies to identify seniors who have fallen in their homes so that we can work with them, too. The foundation is now involved with the development of this program, and if we determine it’s a good fit for the needs of the community, will work to raise funds to support the initiative.

In both of these examples, the foundation is supporting the hospital as it works to meet the health needs of the community.

The Kinnickinnic Health Foundation was established in 1978 to raise funds for River Falls Area Hospital and other local health initiatives. To make a gift, or for more information about the Foundation, contact Heather Logelin at 426-4503 or heather.logelin@allina.com, or visit the Foundation’s website at River Falls Area Hospital Foundation.