Million Dollar Gift to Support Nursing

$1 Million Gift From Anonymous Donor to Provide Major Benefits for Nurses and Patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

As covered in this blog previously, a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor will be providing a big boost to several key programs and initiatives supporting nurses and their patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.

The donor has specified that one-quarter of the gift be in the form of direct funding to support patient and family education, wellness, ethics, and resilience programs, which are covered in this article. The remaining three-quarters of the gift will be an ongoing endowment to support nursing research, evidence-based practices, and nursing-related science programs (covered in a previous article).

“Hospitals nationwide are dealing with the crucial issues of improving wellness and resilience programs for nursing and improving communication with patients and families around health information,” said Kristine Taylor, Interim Executive Director, Center for Professional Excellence and Inquiry at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. “This generous gift will help bolster these programs at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, benefiting both our nurses and the patients we serve.”

In the areas of wellness and resilience programs for nurses, the gift will support the work of the interprofessional HEART (Health, Engagement, Appreciation, Recognition, Teamwork) Council, which spearheads work in these areas, with a sharp focus on elevating wellness across the workforce.

“The donation will also strengthen resiliency programs to support our inspirational nursing team,” said Taylor. “The deep well of resilience for which nurses are so famous was depleted during these years of the pandemic. We are thankful for this donation—it will help refill that well.”

Information and clear communication are essential elements in promoting health education and literacy. The donation will benefit several programs in these areas, including development of culturally relevant educational material for patients and families, enhancing diverse methods of teaching, bolstering health literacy standards with a family-centered care lens, and helping create foreign-language educational materials for the hospital’s many international patients and their families.

“We regularly serve a diverse population from many different states and countries,” said Taylor. “This gift will help us enhance the excellent care we provide to patients who come here from near and far.

“We look forward to the additional support this gift will provide to wellness, resilience, and health literacy initiatives so important to our nurses and patients,” she added.