Grants Program
The Baxter International Foundation focuses many of its grants on helping agencies increase their capacity to serve. One of the most common ways to expand capacity is staffing. Many agencies improve access to care by hiring nurses or nurse practitioners to provide basic primary care. Others hire physical therapists to enable them to provide much needed services to people with disabilities, or other specialists to serve women and children experiencing domestic violence, child abuse, or people with other special health needs. Some organizations train existing staff in specific treatments or techniques to allow them to reach increased numbers of people with the most effective and up-to-date interventions.
In 2008, The Baxter International Foundation made total contributions of over $4 million, of which $2.82 million was given in grants to organizations in 20 countries, largely to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare for the disadvantaged and underserved in communities where Baxter employees live and work. Specifically, grants awarded in 2008 will help increase health and nutrition services for children, provide mental health services to the homeless, expand training for healthcare professionals addressing public health needs, and improve access to healthcare for children, the uninsured and the elderly.
The foundation supported such efforts in western Puerto Rico where early intervention services for children are scarce, yet in high demand. Centro Espibi in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, serves more than 510 children in over 1,500 families. Facing a long waiting list in speech therapy and related services, a grant from The Baxter International Foundation allowed the agency to hire additional speech pathologists and therapists to serve children at a crucial developmental stage and enhance their success in early life and school.
With the pressure to provide comprehensive health services with limited resources, certain populations are often overlooked. The foundation responds to requests by organizations to expand services to people that are marginalized or hard to reach.
Vancouver, British Columbia has one of the poorest neighborhoods in Canada with the largest off-reserve population of aboriginal people. Life expectancy is one-half that of Canadian national life expectancy. The transient lifestyles, lack of resources, educational and cultural issues result in many child and family health needs going unaddressed. A grant from The Baxter International Foundation has allowed the YWCA of Vancouver to hire a staff person to assist families to access needed healthcare services for their children.
The Los Angeles Free Clinic was founded in 1967 and is the oldest continuously operating free clinic in the United States, providing healthcare and human service needs to people who cannot receive care elsewhere. A grant from The Baxter International Foundation has helped the clinic expand its Chronic Conditions Management program to improve interventions and provide more in-depth management of chronic conditions, including enhanced disease management for patients with diabetes.
Similarly, in 1992, Dr. Sarafino Garella brought together a small group of healthcare professionals in Chicago to see medically uninsured patients on a pro bono basis. Today, Community Health is a full-service free clinic with more than 325 active volunteers, including 120 physicians, providing over 15,000 pro bono primary and specialty care visits annually. A grant from The Baxter International Foundation helped support the initiation of a Chronic Disease Health Management program that gives intensive individualized support through a nurse case management program that provides needed medications and supplies, diagnostic tests, group health education, nutrition counseling and links patients with community-based resources.
