COVID-19: How to Help
04/30/2020
You'll find the latest information
about the Coronavirus: COVID-19
on the Banner Health website.
As Arizona’s largest health care provider, Banner Health is working diligently to respond to the spread of COVID-19 while preparing for the uncertain future impact of this global pandemic. The spread of the virus is placing significant new demands on our nonprofit health care system and our valued workforce. Your charitable support is critical in helping Banner respond quickly to escalating needs, make emergency investments, ensure the safety of patients and employees, and increase health care services for those most in need. The following are our most urgent needs:
COVID-19 Response Fund
Given the ever-changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critically important that Banner has a ready source of flexible funding to meet escalating healthcare needs, both now and in the future. Those needs are changing every day. Philanthropic support will help with additional staffing, specialized equipment for the unique needs of COVID-19 patients, Personal Protective Equipment and medical supplies, support for our health care workforce during and after the crisis, and other resources to address this rapidly evolving situation. Donate now.
Taking Care of our Health Care Heroes: Supporting Our Staff Fund
Established in 2011, the SOS Fund provides financial assistance to Banner Health employees facing a temporary financial hardship. Some 2,000 employees have received financial assistance over the past nine years.
Banner leaders recently expanded the SOS program to provide more financial support and to assist employees specifically with child care expenses in addition to hardships such as eviction, foreclosure, imminent shut-off of vital utilities, and more. Over the past month, applications for assistance have grown from an average of a dozen per month to more than 450. Philanthropic support will allow this program to serve the needs of more employees now, as they make untold sacrifices to care for our communities, and well into the future. Donate now.
Innovative Technology: Telehealth in the Age of Coronavirus
Banner Health can meet community needs during this pandemic through the deployment and expansion of telehealth: technology and clinical workflows that provide for safe and effective delivery of care for both patients and providers. Cameras and speakers placed in patient rooms allow health care providers to both monitor and assess the patient without physically entering the virus-exposed area.
This innovative way to treat COVID-19 patients significantly improves conditions and outcomes for both providers and patients, leveraging the medical expertise of our specialists across multiple hospitals from a remote location. It also preserves Personal Protective Equipment, which is dangerously low supply.
Philanthropic support will help to purchase telehealth equipment for Banner’s 853 rooms currently equipped for COVID-19 patients. This funding would also allow us to add telehealth technology in our Emergency Departments to help physicians triage and treat patients without unnecessarily exposing themselves to COVID-positive or COVID-suspect patients. Donate now.
Cultivating Happiness in Medicine: An Initiative to Build Resiliency
Nearly half of physicians report suffering from burnout, a long-term stress reaction marked by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of sense of personal accomplishment. These physicians are twice as likely to commit a medical error, demonstrate low professionalism, and provide a poor patient experience. Burnout also endangers physicians’ own health and well-being, increasing risk for substance abuse, anxiety, and depression. Annually, burnout costs the United States health system $4.6 billion and costs Banner Health some $27 million.
We believe that when our physicians and advanced practitioners are at their best, life is better for everyone: our patients, our providers and their families, our team members, and our communities. Banner Health is in its second year of deploying a holistic, evidenced-based approach to reducing burnout and building resiliency among its physicians and advanced practitioners. Recent survey data after the first year of implementing the Cultivating Happiness in Medicine program shows a reduction in physician turnover and higher ratings of job satisfaction.
Now more than ever, as our providers are under immense strain due to the spread of COVID-19, this work is critically important. Philanthropic support will sustain and expand this program for years to come. Donate now.
Feeding our Teams, Volunteering and Large Donations
If you would like to volunteer your time in a safe manner, have a quantity of items to donate that exceeds the capacity of your personal vehicle, want to donate meals for our hospital staff, or have another type of service to offer, please fill out this brief online form and a member of our team will follow up with you directly.
Have You Recovered from COVID-19?
Banner Health is part of a nationwide effort to recruit plasma donors and use the valuable blood component as part of the treatment protocol for COVID-19 patients. Those who have completely recovered from COVID-19 may have immune-boosting antibodies in their blood called “convalescent plasma,” which could be used to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients. This week, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson’s Blood Bank received its first unit of convalescent plasma to treat a COVID-19 patient in the ICU. While this is still an investigational new treatment, there is hope that it will provide some therapeutic benefit. The Food and Drug Administration recently allowed the transfusion of convalescent plasma as an investigational treatment, which is currently the only antibody treatment available for COVID-19 patients.
Current eligibility criteria for plasma donation include:
- Prior diagnosis of COVID-19
- Fully recovered and symptom-free for at least 14 days, as determined by a medical provider
- At least age 17 years old and weighing at least 110 pounds
- In good health and feeling well
Former patients who believe they meet the donation criteria also may reach out to a Donation Coordinator for assistance. They are:
Metro Phoenix
Robert Flynn, clinical trial senior manager, Banner Research
Phone: (480) 412-6859
Email: robert.flynn@bannerhealth.com
Tucson
Sara Knight, clinical trial senior manager, Banner Research
Phone: (520) 903-8248
Email: sara.knight@bannerhealth.com