BAXTER CANADA’S ‘WELCOME HOME’ NATIONAL GIVING PROGRAM COMMITS MORE THAN $150,000 IN ANNUAL DONATIONS AND HELPS OVER 2,000 PATIENTS ACROSS CANADA
Unique partnership with Canadian Red Cross sets new standard for corporate giving
Mississauga, ON -
A year after launching their first major corporate giving program, leading medical products company, Baxter Canada, is pleased to announce that their over $150,000 annual commitment to the Welcome Home program has helped thousands of patients across Canada. Detailed in the Welcome Home Impact Report, this unique partnership with the Canadian Red Cross combines corporate giving, employee fundraising and employee volunteering to ensure vulnerable Canadians can access the support services they need for a smooth, safe, and comfortable transition home from the hospital.
“Giving back is an essential part of Baxter’s culture, and employees are proud and enthusiastic about making a difference in their own communities,” says Baxter Canada President and General Manager, Stephen Thompson. “Every day, we strive to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people who depend on our products, and in the communities where we live and work. I am proud of our company and our employee’s volunteerism and unwavering commitment to giving back.”
Highlights of the report showcase Baxter’s contributions to the following programs through Welcome Home:
Priority Assistance to Transition Home (PATH) in Northeastern Ontario, which supports those returning home by assisting with transportation, picking up prescriptions, and housekeeping, among other tasks.
- Baxter provides PATH with funds to increase and expand the services it provides to at-risk patients discharged from the hospital
- In 2018, over 2,000 patients were helped with support services, 1,789 transitions were coordinated out of hospitals and 53 new clients were provided access to PATH services thanks to Baxter’s support
- Baxter employees wrote 438 Welcome Home cards for beneficiaries of the PATH program, adding positivity to the transition process
- Thanks to Welcome Home, PATH has been conducting a research evaluation to ensure it is meeting the needs of current patients
Health Equipment Loan Program (HELP) in British Columbia, which provides short and long-term health equipment loans to those in need with a referral from an authorized healthcare provider.
- With Baxter’s support, the HELP Program was able to hire a volunteer recruitment manager to help expand the organization’s capacity to deliver short-term health equipment loans to recovering patients in B.C.’s Lower Mainland Region
- Baxter employees contributed 108 hours of volunteering across 24 shifts at the Vancouver HELP depot
- Baxter teams directly supported 348 patients by loaning them 615 pieces of equipment
The Etobicoke Mobile Foodbank which services those that are injured or ill who do not have the resources or network to get to the grocery store or foodbank.
- 62 Baxter employees contributed 248 hours volunteering, helping to pack more than 900 food hampers for people who can’t access walk-in food banks due to mobility challenges
- 150 Baxter employees donated 373 pounds of food to help fill the hampers at the Mobile Food Bank
“These programs have a profound impact, and as a partner, Baxter’s commitment is changing the lives of families and individuals in these communities. Baxter’s leadership and dedication to finding innovative solutions to employee volunteerism has inspired the creation of several new channels of corporate volunteering at the Canadian Red Cross and opened the door for other corporate donors across the country to follow Baxter’s lead,” says Ronan Ryan, Chief Marketing and Development Officer at the Canadian Red Cross.
Looking Ahead: The 2019-2020 Program
Now into the second year of their partnership, Baxter Canada is inspired by what has been accomplished and excited to build on the progress to date. Baxter’s support will continue to expand direct service delivery of the PATH program to reach an additional 90 clients, expand the evaluation of the program and dedicate resources towards volunteer recruitment and training.
Baxter’ support will focus on the communities of Surrey and Burnaby, BC to recruit and retain additional HELP volunteers who want to take on recruitment activities, developing relationships with community groups to have more consistent sources of new volunteers, and applying these new concepts and tools to other communities within the Metro Vancouver area. By April 2020, Baxter’s support will enable the recruitment of an additional 30 new volunteers to the region.
For more information on how you can support the Canadian Red Cross, visit www.redcross.ca. To see how Baxter’s Welcome Home program is helping those in underserved communities, check out the Impact Report, and #BaxterGivesBack and @baxter_intl on social media.
About Baxter Canada
Every day, millions of patients and caregivers rely on Baxter’s leading portfolio of critical care, nutrition, renal, hospital and surgical products. In Canada, we’ve been operating at the critical intersection where innovations that save and sustain lives meet the healthcare providers that make it happen for 82 years. With products, technologies and therapies available in more than 100 countries, Baxter’s employees worldwide are now building upon the company’s rich heritage of medical breakthroughs to advance the next generation of transformative healthcare innovations. Baxter Canada and its nearly 1,000 employees are located primarily in Ontario at the Head Office, CIVA Admixing and Technical Services Centres in Mississauga, and in Alliston – where Baxter operates Canada’s only large-scale manufacturing plant producing life-sustaining intravenous and dialysis solutions.
To learn more, visit www.baxter.ca and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
About the Canadian Red Cross
In Canada and overseas, the Red Cross stands ready to help people before, during and after a disaster. As a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – which includes the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and 190 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies – the Canadian Red Cross is dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and throughout the world.