Have you heard? Your generosity provided more than $116,000 in grants to our six partner hospitals this year!
In 1994, the Cal-Nev-Ha Children’s Fund partnered with children’s hospitals in Oakland, San Diego, Loma Linda and since then has expanded our partner hospital program to include children’s hospitals in Madera, Honolulu and Reno. As part of this partnership, the CNH Children’s Fund annually invites our six partner hospitals to apply for a grant for unfunded needs directly related to pediatric trauma and injury prevention.
We are thrilled to announce how each partner hospital will utilize their grant funds this year:
Valley Children’s Hospital – With the pandemic affecting their ability to host large-scale, in-person events, our partners at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera, CA will use a bulk of their $26,522 grant this year to purchase and distribute helmets to children and families. The remainder of the funds will be used to purchase and distribute “crisis boxes” at the time of discharge to those patients who are identified as being at-risk for injury to themselves or others. These “crisis” boxes will be large enough to hold a firearm, medications, or other sharp objects. Patients will also receive a list of community resources for follow up.
Renown Children’s Hospital – Our partners in Reno, NV have historically used their grant to purchase state-of-the-art equipment to continue providing the very best care to children in the region. This year, their $13,000 grant will be used to provide PCAR (Pediatric Care After Resuscitation) training to 40 pediatric nurses. PCAR courses offer evidence-based information, such as emergency, critical and acute care, rehabilitation and critical thinking skills. With more than 300 injured children seen annually at Renown Children’s Hospital, providing this course to emergency room nurses will provide them with the best research and information to optimally care for hospitalized and injured children.
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego – Traditionally, Rady Children’s Hospital uses their grants to enhance their Injury Prevention Programs. Recent Kiwanis-funded programs include the Kiwanis Home Safety Program and the Kiwanis Ride Safe Program. This year, the hospital will use their $18,497 grant to develop a local task force which will target a specific community to distribute safety education and materials to make homes safer for children aged 5 years and younger. The task force will train and provide a leading education and distribution program addressing the three leading causes of early childhood injury and death. Resources to be distributed include safe sleep survival kits; water safety books; window locks; and home safety strategy flyers.
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland – Without grants from the CNH Children’s Fund, many of the hospital’s injury prevention programs simply would not exist. For instance, nearly 20 years ago, the hospital’s injury prevention coordinator developed the “Keeping Safe from Injury” booklet which was translated into Spanish; however, the hospital lacked the funds needed to produce this booklet. With grant funds from the CNH Children’s Fund, the booklet was printed and has since been translated into eight more languages, all thanks to Kiwanis! This year’s grant of $20,000 will allow the hospital to continue their longstanding injury prevention program. and will be used to purchase sleepsacks, cribs, helmets and child safety seats for distribution to families within Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital – Every four years, all trauma and emergency nurses must complete trauma and emergency nurse core curriculum training to learn the latest trauma nursing practice recommendations, systematic assessment and application of care, and rapid identification of life-threatening injuries. Every second counts in life-threatening trauma cases, and front-line healthcare responders must be current with their continuing education. Building on their safety education programs, Loma Linda will use this year’s grant of $17,400 to provide trauma training aids to the trauma and emergency nursing staff at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.
Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children – The most significant grant awarded to our partners in Honolulu was a $25,000 grant which they used to create Hawaii’s first comprehensive pediatric burn program, developing curriculum for an educational program for Pediatric Burn Care, and creating a care guide for parents. This year, their $20,908 grant will be used to provide PCAR (Pediatric Care After Resuscitation) training to 25 pediatric nurses and to purchase training aids to assist in their training. Given that Kapi‘olani cared for 426 critical care transports from neighboring medical centers and islands in addition to 24,333 Emergency Department visits last year, we feel this is money well spent in caring for and treating pediatric patients – and we hope you agree!
We’re incredibly honored to collaborate with these amazing children’s hospitals to reduce preventable childhood injuries and death.