Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation Awards over $650,000 in Grants to SMH Residency and Palliative Care Programs
Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation (SMHF) recently awarded a total of four grants benefitting the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Emergency Care Center (ECC), Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine Residency Program, and Palliative Care Program.
$397,000 to purchase additional equipment for the ECC that will be used for patient care and resident training for physician residents entering SMH’s new Emergency Medicine Residency program beginning in July. Nine medical school graduates enroll in this three-year program each year.
$144,000 raised at the Healthcare Foundation’s Women & Medicine educational luncheon last March will help support the newly created position of Chief Medical Resident at Sarasota Memorial’s Internal Medicine practice in Newtown. The chief resident will serve as junior attending physician under program director Wilhemine Wiese-Rometsch, M.D., in addition to overseeing other residents in training and helping manage daily operations.
$73,000 was awarded to help expand palliative care services at SMH and fund a new fellowship program that will begin in July 2020 with two fellows in training. An additional $45,000 will help fund palliative care nurse education beginning this fall, as well as the purchase of comfort carts to provide in-room amenities such as snacks, beverages, books and music to palliative care patients and families.
“The Healthcare Foundation is thrilled to be able to help SMH build and grow its medical residency programs,” said SMHF president Mason Ayres. “Providing support for education and other patient-centric initiatives is how we help SMH maintain its national ranking as a ‘top performing’ hospital.”
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