THANK YOU for Your Support During COVID-19

Support from our community came in every shape, size and form. From in-kind donations of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to healthy snacks for our staff to posters with signs of encouragement, and much, much more. 

In addition to support from local businesses, global companies, faith-based groups and other civic organizations, we received leadership gifts from several generous donors including The Chia Family Foundation, Alex and Laura Hanson CFG, Inc., Duncan and Nancy MacMillan, Laurie and Andy Okun and Donald V. Smith Charitable Giving. Every donation makes a positive impact on patient care. Alex and Laura Hanson’s gift was made to support the expansion of our tele-monitoring capabilities, purchase essential equipment for patient care and convert and equip several units within the hospital to accommodate our volume of COVID positive patients. While Don Smith said, “I have been a Princeton Hospital supporter for about 20 years, and have experienced all of the Hospital’s very successful transformations. Thus, while residing in Florida this Spring, I wondered how the System, was doing under the Covid-19 threat. Barry Rabner described the overwhelming challenge and I was very impressed with the response, such that I called each member of my immediate family who agreed to make a significant donation to the Center from our family foundation. The center has succeeded in another transformation and undoubtedly has learned to solve even more demanding medical issues."

On behalf of Penn Medicine Princeton Health physicians, staff and patients, as well as the Princeton Medical Center Foundation, thank you for your remarkable support during this COVID-19 outbreak. We are humbled by the hundreds of gestures of kindness, generosity and hope that the community shared with us. 

Shortly after the onset of the pandemic, the Princeton Medical Center Foundation created two special funds for community support: The COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund and the Healthcare Heroes Fund.

Our COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund supports the purchase of medical equipment and supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as other critical resources to support our preparedness in response to the COVID-19 health crisis. As of June 30, 2020 we have raised $610,698 from 330 donors.

Our HealthCare Heroes Fund invited our community to make donations which were used to purchase a freshly made meal for two from local restaurants which were sent home with employees at the end of their shift. This effort raised $172,578 from 532 donors with 2,935 meals delivered by 15 local restaurants.

As we begin planning for the future, we have started to fundraise for two additional areas; our Mental Wellness Initiative and COVID-19 Emergency Personal Protective (PPE) Equipment Fund.

Princeton Medical Center Mental Health Initiative

Helping our physician and staff deal with the prolonged challenges of the pandemic

Experts believe that health care workers as a group – including our own – are likely to develop anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, acute stress, and eventually PTSD as a result of what they’re experiencing on the pandemic front lines. 

In the first months of the pandemic, we proactively implemented a number of mental health support services for staff such as rounding on various hospital units to gauge care team stress, holding debriefing sessions so staff could voice their concerns.

Philanthropic funding of our Mental Health Initiative will help support programs:

• A Part Time Clinical Psychologist for the next 12 months to continue to support our care teams by providing “psychological first-aid” on the frontline to medical personnel and other first responders during a crisis or natural disaster. 
• A Peer-to-Peer Nurses Support including a structured forum for education, resiliency training and peer-to-peer support sessions where our nurses can share their experiences, process difficult situations together, and come away feeling more supported and with useful coping strategies. The goal is to improve teamwork, communication, decrease stress and isolation, and increase compassion and readiness to respond to patient and family needs.
• A Grand Rounds Speaker Series featuring experts in medical crisis management, stress management and resiliency.

Our goal is to continue to build a culture and environment where our employees can feel comfortable asking for help, and to be an organization that continues to recognize their mental health needs and provide the resources needed to build a resilient organization.

COVID-19 Emergency Personal Protective Equipment Fund

There has never been a better time to Give

Like all hospitals throughout the country, Princeton Medical Center experienced PPE (personal protective equipment) shortages in the first few months of the pandemic. The average COVID-19 positive patient requires staff to use five times more PPE than the average patient. We took immediate steps to safely preserve and recycle our existing supply, but even with these strategies in place, during the peak of the crisis there were a number of days when we were at risk of not having enough PPE, putting our staff and patients at increased risk of transmission.

Penn Medicine Princeton Health Foundation has created a COVID-19 Emergency Personal Protective Equipment Fund that will be used to help procure a 90-day PPE supply. This additional inventory is a critical component of Penn Medicine Princeton Health’s resurgence plan and prepares us for any future COVID-19 outbreaks or other potential health crises in which an unusually high volume of PPE may be needed.  PPE includes N95 masks, face shields, gloves, isolation and surgical gowns, sanitizers and similar items. 

Even in this most difficult of times, Princeton Medical Center’s health professionals put their patients first. They improvised when needed or put creative practices in place to minimize risk and exposure while still providing exceptional patient care.  We’re proud of their heroic efforts and have an obligation to keep them and our community safe.

Philanthropic support will help ensure that we have access to an adequate supply of PPE is essential to our ability to continue to safely treat COVID-19 patients while protecting our caregivers.

Donations made to the Princeton Medical Center Foundation stay here in our community. Please click here to donate toward the COVID-19 90 Day PPE Fund.