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What is Carolinas HealthCare Foundation?
Carolinas HealthCare Foundation serves as the primary point of contact for individual, foundation and corporate charitable support of Carolinas HealthCare System (a self-supporting, public, not-for-profit healthcare provider.) The Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Why should I contribute to Carolinas HealthCare Foundation?
Financial contributions help provide the resources necessary to maintain the highest level of excellence and patient support in our medical programs and services. Your individual acts of generosity help improve the quality of life for people in our region today and into the future.
Philanthropic gifts have always been important to Carolinas HealthCare System. Since its beginnings in 1939, gracious donors have significantly contributed to the growth and success of CHS programs and services.
How will my contribution be used?
Many donors elect to designate a hospital service or program as the recipient of their gift – to a fund that supports ovarian cancer research, or to cardiovascular rehabilitation. A donor may also choose to make an unrestricted gift to the Foundation. At the discretion of the Board of Directors, these gifts are designated for areas where needs are most critical and urgent.
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Home > Spotlight > Research and Education
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Teaching tomorrow’s doctors and nurses |
He breathes, he talks, he bleeds, and he has a pulse. He is SimMan, a $60,000 simulation mannequin that brings an unprecedented degree of realism to medical education.
SimMan is one of many innovative training tools at Carolinas Simulation Center, part of Carolinas College of Health Sciences. He’s part of a family of mannequins – some funded by philanthropy – that’s helping improve patient care by allowing healthcare providers to train in lifelike conditions.
“The Center allows us to teach both simple and complex medical techniques in a safe, risk-free environment,” Center Coordinator Dawn Swiderski says. “Simulation enables healthcare providers the ability for repetitive practice to gain experience with patient care management and procedures without compromising the health and safety of real patients.”
The use of simulation technology is revolutionizing medical education and training, gaining wide-spread acceptance in nursing, medical, and allied health fields. Simulation allows for realistic scenarios using life-sized, computerized mannequins, which are able to simulate a variety of medical conditions and respond in real-time to treatments. Simulation also provides training on rare and acute conditions. Using the Center’s state-of-the-art mannequins and other simulation equipment, participants are able to learn proper techniques and improve their decision-making, communication and teamwork.
The mannequins have human-like skin and realistic skeletal structure and weight and allow participants to deal with a broad range of traumas and injuries, from stab wounds to pneumonia with septic shock. The Center also has Sim babies, Sim mothers, and a wide range of other simulation equipment. Recently, the Center partnered with CMC-Pineville to train labor and delivery nurses on high-risk obstetrical emergencies. The nurses complete scenarios, then transfer their knowledge and skills to the bedside.
MedCenter Air is one of the Center’s largest user groups. Simulation is used not only in their hiring process, where candidates are required to demonstrate proficiency in both adult and pediatric medical skills, but also it is used on an ongoing basis to provide training and skill validation to MedCenter Air employees.
People who train on the equipment say they find the approach helpful.
“I have found simulation training to be an invaluable part of my education,” says Emergency Medicine resident Liza Rosenman. “It offers a safe environment in which to encounter uncommon and life-threatening presentations that would take years, maybe even decades, to see otherwise. This opportunity has made me a more confident and competent physician in caring for my patients.”
Because of simulations, participants are able to make mistakes and learn from them without any risk to patients. Military and civilian research shows that the use of human simulation training by medical teams can dramatically reduce medical errors and improve staff attitude toward teamwork.
Opened in 2007 as a department of Carolinas College of Health Science, Carolinas Simulation Center is the only facility in the region to be accredited by both the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). It is one of 54 institutions worldwide to receive ACS accreditation, one of only seven worldwide to receive SSH accreditation, and one of only four simulation centers in the world to be dually accredited. |
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Seeking a cure for muscular dystrophy |
It’s one thing to say you want to build a nationally recognized medical research center. But that’s exactly what’s happening in Charlotte in the area of muscular dystrophy because of the generosity of two families.
The McColls and the Lockwoods were changed forever when doctors told them a family member was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. While they were assured of access to high quality care, they also recognized the need for a better understanding of the disease and the need for new and improved therapies – for both their family members and others.
In 2003, they approached Carolinas HealthCare System and partnered to develop the best research program possible seeking a cure for muscular dystrophy. The Hugh McColl Jr. family donated $5 million to create the $10 million Carolinas Muscular Dystrophy Research Endowment at Carolinas HealthCare Foundation. (Jane McColl Lockwood is the daughter of Hugh McColl Jr., former Bank of America chairman and CEO.)
The disease is diagnosed in as many as 250,000 people in the United States each year.
The McColl and Lockwood gifts – and those of hundreds of community members – show how philanthropy can turn visions into reality.
Because of the support, Carolinas HealthCare was able to recruit Dr. Qi Long Lu from the University of London, England, and provide him with state-of-the-art laboratories. Over the next few years, he assembled an international research team.
Today, one of CMC's most distinguished research groups is housed in the McColl-Lockwood Laboratory for Muscular Dystrophy Research. Under Dr. Lu’s direction, a group of eight Ph.D. researchers and their support teams are investigating the most common form of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne, and a much rarer form, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy.
The lab and its team of internationally diverse scientists will change the landscape of medical research in Charlotte, making medical advances which may ultimately have worldwide implications.
“Our family is proud to support the Center, which is recognized nationally for its leading ALS and muscular dystrophy programs,” McColl says. “We take a keen interest in the progress of their research and the impact this may have for patients and families battling neuromuscular diseases.”
About the Carolinas Muscular Dystrophy Research Endowment
This fund is dedicated to supporting research on select types of muscular dystrophy, particularly limb-girdle, then taking that research and applying it to a clinical setting. |
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