M Health Fairview medical staff pledges $100,000 to Second Harvest Heartland
Medical staff at M Health Fairview’s east metro hospitals are committed to their community – including the thousands of Minnesotans facing hunger and food insecurity. This holiday season, they pledged a $100,000 donation match to Second Harvest Heartland to help provide for those in need.
This is the second year in a row that east metro staff have come together to pledge $100,000 to Second Harvest Heartland, a local hunger relief organization.
“We are committed to caring not only for our patients and providers, but also the community around us,” said M Health Fairview Anesthesiologist Matthew Stiles, MD. “Supporting Second Harvest Heartland is one way that providers can significantly improve the healthcare needs of the community.”
M Health Fairview healthcare workers chose Second Harvest Heartland because the organizations serve the same east metro communities and have similar missions to remove barriers to health equity. Second Harvest Heartland recently signed on as a partner at the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub in St. Paul. They will operate food storage, distribution, and pop-up food shelves at our new facility to address immediate food access needs in St. Paul.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the number of people and families relying on emergency food assistance from Second Harvest Heartland has grown by 60 percent.
“Our medical staff has always taken on our community’s biggest health challenges,” ,” said M Health Fairview Vice President of Medical Affairs William Nicholson, MD. “Due in large part to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity has become a critical issue for many Minnesota families.”
The donation pledge is from the employed and independent medical staff of M Health Fairview Woodwinds Hospital, M Health Fairview St. John’s Hospital, and St. Joseph’s Campus, including Bethesda Hospital. This group is led by Nicholson and Stiles, along with M Health Fairview hospital chiefs-of-staff, including Pathologist Byron Simmons, MD; Pulmonologist and Critical Care Physician Rita Patel, MD; Hospitalist Tom Scheider, MD; and Pulmonologist and Critical Care Physician Erica Kuhlmann, DO.
“Social determinants of health – including income and access to nutrition – play a huge role in a person’s wellbeing,” said Stiles. “We’re happy to help our neighbors with this basic need.”
