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Horizon Health Foundation was recently awarded a Keep the Change grant from Alliance Communications for the purchase of equipment for Alcester Dental Clinic and Howard Community Health Center.
In Alcester, the grant has been used to purchase a new autoclave sterilizer, which is used to sterilize reusable dental instruments and devices. Efficient infection control in the dental clinic is essential for the safety of patients and to ensure that productivity does not suffer. Previously, the staff had to haul this machine that weighs over 100 lbs. from Yankton Dental to Alcester each week when seeing patients since they did not have one at Alcester Dental Clinic.
In Howard, the grant funded the purchase of two “Nurse on Wheels”. The “Nurse on Wheels” is a secure easy-to-use, medical device that provides accurate vital sign measurement including blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen saturation. The device connects wirelessly to the organization’s Electronic Medical Records and sends vitals to the patient chart from the point of care to help improve efficiency.
“The Nurse on Wheels allows our nurses to ‘room’ a patient and multi-task,” said Misty Rudebusch, PA-C, MPAS, Horizon Health Care Medical Director. “This equipment can provide a complete set of vitals within 15 seconds, which improves staff workflow efficiencies and provides better diagnosis accuracy.”
Alliance Communications’ Keep the Change program is dedicated to making their communities a better place to live. The funds are voluntarily donated by generous Alliance customers and are given back to community, school, and nonprofit organizations. Customers’ bills are rounded up to the next highest dollar and a total of 92 percent of Alliance customers participate.
“The Alliance Communications Keep the Change board is pleased to make this grant to the Horizon Health Foundation to support the dental clinic in Alcester and the medical clinic Howard,” said Paul VanDeBerg, Business Relations for Alliance Communications. “This is a great way to benefit our local businesses and help improve health care needs for the residents of Alcester and Howard.”
The Horizon Health Foundation was established in 2016 to ensure rural health care access to those in need and provide funding for Horizon Health Care. Horizon Health Foundation, a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation, seeks through responsible activities to encourage and derive sustaining gift support from current and former patients and interested friends, including corporate entities. The Horizon Health Foundation, operating in coordination with Horizon Health Care, is the duly designated fundraising arm for Horizon Health Care. In the broadest sense, the purpose of the Foundation is to create an awareness of the financial needs of Horizon Health Care, which are not provided by patient charges and to systematically implement plans by which dollar needs can be met.
About Horizon Health Care
For over 40 years, Horizon Health Care has been providing personalized, affordable, high-quality medical, dental and behavioral health care through a rural, community-based network in South Dakota. Horizon is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that serves the medical, dental and mental health care needs of South Dakotans in rural, medically underserved areas through 110,000 patient visits annually in 32 community health centers in: Aberdeen, Alcester, Bison, Bryant, De Smet, Eagle Butte, Elk Point, Faith, Fort Thompson, Howard, Huron, Isabel, La Plant, Lake Preston, Martin, McIntosh, Mission, Plankinton, Wessington Springs, White River, Woonsocket, and Yankton. For more information please visit www.horizonhealthcare.org.