Ep. 9 | Hilary Gibbs, Foundation, SGMC Health

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Today, we're talking about generosity that heals! Dive into the dynamic world of healthcare philanthropy with Hilary Gibbs, Vice President and Chief Development Officer at SGMC Health! Heading up the SGMC Health Foundation, Hilary discusses what it means to be a not-for-profit health system and how money raised by the Foundation is reinvested into our employees, technology, buildings, and programs to better serve patients. Listen in to learn about the variety of ways you can get involved to support the health of our communities, including events, volunteerism, shopping, tax credits, donations, and more!

Transcript

- Welcome to another episode of What Brings You in Today.
 
- I'm Erika Bennett. And I'm Taylor Fisher.
 
- And today we just wanted to start off first by thanking our audience, everyone who's been listening and subscribing to the podcast. So we wanna encourage you to continue to do that, but also to continue to provide feedback on questions or topics that you wanna hear more of.
 
- And also, don't forget to rate, review, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and leave us a good review.
 
- All right. Now to the good stuff. Today we are here with SGMC Health's Vice President and Chief Development Officer Hilary Gibbs. So Hilary, what brings you in today?
 
- Yeah, thanks for having me. I just thought maybe we would talk about some of the things that a lot of people don't think about when they think about the health system. So how the community supports the health system and the role the community plays in what we do every day by giving of their time and their talents and their treasure. And we just couldn't do what we do here at SGMC Health if it weren't for the community support that we get.
 
- Well, just a little bit about you. You have a vast experience in the philanthropy arena. So tell us how, a little bit about your career and what landed you here at SGMC Health.
 
- Yeah, so I don't know if I'd say vast, but we can go with that. So I spent the first 20 years of my career at Valdosta State University. So just right up Patterson Street serving there in different roles in the foundation. But the last role that I served at Valdosta State was the Associate Vice President for the foundation and then moved here to SGMC Health about two years, two and a half years ago. Now time flies when you're having fun as the Vice President and Chief Development Officer. So a lot of people are like, how did you make the move from higher education to healthcare a, I think philanthropy is philanthropy. And I always said there's probably two things that I would spend my career raising money for. And that would be education and healthcare because both of those just have a massive impact on the life of anyone. It's been a great transition to healthcare. So I think just SGMC health is a special place. Maybe a lot of people that walk through our doors realize that. And then those that haven't experienced just the gift that SGMC Health is to this community maybe will one day hopefully, you know, not for anything bad, but when those times do happen, we wanna be here to serve our community. But it's just, it's just, it was a really amazing to see when I moved here. Just the, the empathy and the caring that happens within these walls and just the people at SGMC Health are amazing and it's been, it's been fun to be a part of that. And it's just an opportunity for our community to give back and, and we do have such a generous community.
 
- I, I totally agree. Also have, you know, made the transition from higher education to healthcare. That's how we met. And I, I agree. You come here and it's kind of scary at first 'cause you're not used to healthcare. You don't know how this works, but it's such a welcoming place and everyone has been just so kind. And then to see the, the care that goes into the patients and you just realize that you're really a part of something so much bigger.
 
- Yeah, I think I can echo that too, just from the career space, not being a clinical provider, but still being able to get that validation that working for our organization, you're part of a extremely important cause Yes. In the community, no matter what role that is.
 
- Yes, absolutely.
 
- So speaking of, let's go to the foundation. How does the foundation impact patient care? You know, we think about raising money, but how does that actually translate to the bedside?
 
- Right, right. So obviously the SGMC Health Foundation simply exists to support SGMC Health. So everything that we do, we do with the idea of how do we better serve our community and support SGMC Health in doing that. So we have certain goals within the foundation. We are managed by the SGMC Health Foundation Board. And one of the things that we always look at is a medical technology. The advancement of medical technology at SGMC Health. How can we assist in expediting that to be able to get the resources that the health system needs? How can we help with that, the patient experience? There's lots of things that we do in that space. For instance, if, if you have a child that comes into the er, they receive an SGMC health, er, cuddle bear, as we know, that can be a scary time to bring a child in, in an unfamiliar space. And sometimes they might be being poked and prodded on. So the foundation is just able to provide things to the health system that maybe they couldn't do just in their normal operations. So we kind of, we like to say that we're able to just expedite the process that maybe normally in the normal operating budget, those opportunities wouldn't be there. So we also support our staff, the things that, that our nurses, that anybody that, that provides patient care, anything that that, that we can do to help them in that. One of the neat things that we were able to do, I guess it's been a little over a year ago, was provide massage chairs throughout the health system. So it doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you have nurses that are on the floor, you know, for 12 hour shifts Yeah. Just that 30 minute break to be able to go to a room in a quiet space and have decompress Yeah. Decompress in a massage chair. You know, that's not ne necessarily something that as a health system, you would think, okay, we're gonna set aside these dollars in our operating budget to be able to do that. So it's things like that that we get to do in the foundation that really can make an impact. Just that nurse receiving that, that, that time to just be able to decompress and reset then transfers to the bedside in the patient care that they're able to give. Same with medical technology. There's some advanced medical technology. We've been able to provide recently a savvy scout surgical equipment that's used in breast cancer treatment. So in the past, a radiologist has had to go in and place a wire for then the surgeon to be able to know the exact location of the tumor. And it's just really, you know, the patient would have to come to radiology, get the wire in, and then go to the, OR with the wire coming out of their breast. A, it's uncomfortable, B it can just be a scary experience to still be awake through all of that. So the savvy Scout allows them to do that without having a wire, without having any of that. They're able to locate it through this, this particular device and be able to pinpoint even more so without worrying about human error in placing a wire to be able to know the exact location of the tumor when they then go in for surgery. So the foundation was able to provide that equipment. So it's just things like that Yeah. That then transfer to the bedside and hence the, just a better patient experience and outcome. Yeah.
 
- I mean you can, all of those things that you described make it better for the patient. They make it better for our team members doing their jobs. So it's a all around benefit, but a lot of thing, a lot of things that people just don't think about. Right. I know we have recently, I, we are, we are, our job is to help share that information. So we're constantly sending out press releases and things talking about that. But it is just, it's like the little tweaks that we can do, the little things that we can add that make a difference for Right. Patients and providers.
 
- Right. And for someone that's, that came in after we had that equipment, they don't realize that it was ever done a different way. Right. And that's fine. But, and, and that's how we want it. Know that that's the experience that they've had. But we're just, we're fortunate to be able to do that because of the community support that we have.
 
- Yeah.
 
- Can you talk a little bit about some of the other things that the foundation does besides the technology? 'cause there are so many other things that you guys do. Different events, programs, things that you put money into and to help the community. Can you talk about that?
 
- Yeah. So two signature events that we started a couple years ago. Both do, do raise money for different things within the foundation, but really the sole purpose of the event is to bring awareness to the community. One is our women's, our girls just wanna have brunch. So it is a brunch that we have in October during breast cancer awareness month, specifically for women's health. And so we invite women and lots of them bring their daughters into in the community to come and just have a fun morning of brunch. And then they built their own bouquet. And last year we then did, had it downtown. So then they were able to visit some of our shops downtown that had discounts for them that morning. But more so we brought in some of our female primary care providers to then talk to them about just the specific needs that women have in healthcare and, and just screenings. Yeah. Primary care opportunities, wellness visits, the things that a lot of times, you know, as females we get so busy taking care of everybody else that we forget to take care of ourselves. So just that awareness that it brings to the community. And then we do the same thing for men's health that we typically do later in the spring. It's a glow on the golf tournament that we have had at Kinderlou the past couple years. Lots of fun. But it does the same thing. Brings awareness for men's health and then raises money for men's health so that then we can do other things like our listen to your heart that we have, we're able to have that, the foundation funded through the health system where our cardiologists come in, it's a free event that the community members could come to a dinner. And then here our cardiologists get to know about some of the cardiology services that we offer. And mainly the things to listen to, to know if you're, you're having a severe cardiac event and what to do. And we're able to do the same thing with cancer survivors to celebrate them during various times.
 
- And last year you were able to give 50 free Yes. Mammograms to our rural communities Yes. To individuals that could not afford mammograms. Yes. I mean and that is truly, I mean that if that's not lives it be life changing lives. Yeah. I mean 'cause if you can catch it early Yep. And then we followed, we also covered up their, covered the additional screening Yes. Until we could get them qualified for financial assistance or what have you for actual cancer treatment. So I mean that's, yeah,
 
- Huge. And we, we look, we look to expand that this year. We started it in Arian this past year and had a generous donor that had given money specifically for the Bean County to be used for breast cancer screenings. So yeah. It's things like that that, that we have the opportunity to provide the community that we otherwise would not have.
 
- I think that's fantastic. And you don't think about that because unless you work in this realm, then you have no
 
- Idea what a foundation recipient, unless you're the one in need. Right. That's having to be Yeah. Helped. So it's so cool that, I mean, people think about healthcare as being this big, big, bad industry sometimes that's really just in it for the money. And I would like to touch on that just a little bit. That we are, you know, nonprofit health system and what does that mean? Right? Yeah. People are very confused about that. But we're not a for-profit hospital. Right. Yeah. And there are those out there. Right. But we are not one of those.
 
- No. So there is, I always find in the community when we say we're a not-for-profit, people get confused as to what that means because we do have to make money. But, so it doesn't mean that we don't want to have a profit that we don't make money. It, it's what we do with that money that is different than a for-profit. So we reinvest any of the profits that we make back into the health system to serve our community. We also reinvest that money back into the community. So you'll notice, you know, gifts that the health system's able to give to other entities in the community to better serve the people that live here. So yeah, it's what, it's what we do with that money that is different than a for-profit hospital. So for-Profit Hospital exists to, you know, they do serve their, their community, but they also exist to, to make money for their shareholders. So our shareholders are the community that we serve. So just two big differences. A we exist to serve everyone in this community regardless of their ability to pay. And then what we do with the money that we make is we reinvest it back into the community, into facilities, program services. And that's how we're able to do the things that we do each year. Expand the services, have the cardiovascular services that we have through cardiology, neurology, cancer, all of those things we wouldn't be able to do unless we had those funds to reinvest back into our system. Yeah.
 
- Reinvest back into our system and into our people. We have to make a bottom line to be able to continue to operate. Right. Right. Right. I mean, you have to do that. But having a healthy, being healthy stewards Yes. Of that and making sure we're investing in the right thing so that we leave a legacy that will serve our community. Right. For decades to come. So that's huge. And that's a huge responsibility. It is a huge responsibility. It's a, but it's something that I think our leadership team takes very seriously. And, and that, and the announcement that was made recently with the new building expansion at main campus is a testament to that.
 
- Oh absolutely. Yeah. We wouldn't be able to do things like that if it weren't for that. And then, you know, just because you mentioned the expansion at main campus also, you know, the foundation all also looks at any, any of our facility upgrades that we're doing, our new programs, new buildings and how, what, what our role is in that. So we specifically have a goal within the foundation to raise $10 million towards that new expansion project. So that's $150 million project. But the foundation will raise 10 million of that and then hopefully exceed that 10 million to be able to offer those services and those new facilities to our community.
 
- And I think that speaks volumes to the fact that there are individuals, there are companies that see what we're doing, know what our vision is, and get behind that and support that. Right. Because in donors can give their money any way they want to. And so the, we feel very grateful to anyone that, you know, gets behind us and sees what we're doing and wants to be a part of that. But I do think it's a testament to our, the community support for
 
- Healthcare. Very much so. I think so too. Yeah. And we have so many amazing nonprofit organizations here in this community that do great things. So it is an honor when when someone chooses to give back to SGMC Health and a lot of times it's because their family has been impacted coming here for care and we're honored that a, they would trust us with their care and then that they would trust us with their resources after their care so that others can be provided the same quality of care that they received when their family was here. So we don't take that for granted. And that's one of the things that the SGMC Health Foundation that we pride ourselves in is that people can trust that when they give us their money, we're gonna do what we say we're gonna do with it. And, and we want them to have a part in making that decision. So if somebody came here and they're so grateful for the hair, the care that they received, say in the Dasher Heart Center and they wanna give back there, that they can give money to that area and that's where that money is gonna go to support or those services. So that's just something that we, we pride ourselves in and, and we do not take for granted that people can choose to give their gifts anywhere. And that a lot of times they choose to give it here.
 
- So we've talked a lot about money, but you can give in many different ways. Yes. Doesn't it have to be just money? Yes. So let's talk a little bit, I know you oversee our volunteer program and we have a lot, we work with a many volunteer groups Yeah. In the organization. But tell us about the role that they play in the healthcare sphere and then the patient experience.
 
- Yeah, so we love our volunteers. And I would like to say the foundation does oversee the volunteers. But specifically the other Hilary, Hilary Willis and her team oversee the volunteers and they do a wonderful job. We are so thankful. A lot of people know our volunteer auxiliary services as the red coats or the pink ladies that you see. And they just are just such a fun group A, they're here because they wanna be here and they could be doing anything they want with their time, but they choose to come here. They really just bring a completely different feel to the health system when you come. A lot of times people come in the front door and see 'em at the information desk. They're always there to help to walk people wherever they need to go to try to find a patient's room if that's somebody's looking for. A lot of people don't see our volunteers that maybe are behind the scenes in the cancer center. So a lot of people are there for long infusions in the cancer center. So they provide food, sandwiches, drinks, anything that you can think of. I think anything that a patient asks for in the cancer center, our volunteers will go and find it. You'll also see 'em delivering papers to the patient newspapers, to the patient's rooms in the morning. Just, they just provide that extra touch that maybe when we're here working every day, you know, we're really like get to work things happen. Yeah. You know, and, and they are just here to meet our patient's needs. And so, and that we're just so grateful for them and always looking for more volunteers. So if you're listening to this and you're thinking, wow, I have a lot of time on my hands, contact us. We have a place for you. We have a place for you. But it's not just a lot of people think of the volunteers like retirees, but we actually have a good number of college students that volunteer also. And they bring another unique perspective to the system, you know, and a lot of times they're really trying to get involved because they wanna go into healthcare and we love to have them here too. We have a good number of volunteers that come from Valdosta State. So that's fun. And it's, and and our Pink Ladies and Braid Coats love to also have the college students here. Yeah. So it's a fun interaction. And then we run a volunteer program in the summertime that we have, we actually started it back, I guess last summer for the first time. And we'll continue it this summer. So there is an application process. We're accepting applications right now. So if you have a teenager anywhere from ninth to 12th grade that a lot of times they too are interested in going into the healthcare field and just wanna get a feel for the different areas within the system. They can come and volunteer through our volunteering program this summer and we try to place them in an area where they have the most interest in serving.
 
- So that's a great way for them to get some experience before they have to go off to college and spend the, the parents' dollars. Yeah. Trying to figure out what they wanna do. That parents, I, I highly recommend it because it does help them kind of see like, oh, okay, maybe I don't like this but I do like this. Right. And really kind of narrow that, that interest for the field for their career.
 
- Yeah. And I just also wanna mention, I think I would be remiss if I didn't mention all of the boards that we have. Yeah. You know, obviously our hospital board, that's the governing body of the health system. They're all volunteers and Right. Spend so much time here. Yeah. Truly invested in the system. But then also our foundation board and and our advisory boards that we have with within different affiliates of the health system. So those are community members that give of their time to be able to make sure that we know the needs of the community. Yeah. 'cause they really are the eyes and ears out there. And so we're so grateful for
 
- Them. So important to know that we're not making decisions in silos. Right. That we really have leaders throughout the community serving on these different boards that are helping guide those decisions. Right. Right. And I think that's probably something that's many people don't know of just because they are behind, they're in the background doing the work. Yes. Yes.
 
- Just because they love it. Yes. And they don't like to give the credit. Yeah. Like we try to give them credit where credit is due and that's not why they're here. Right. But I think it's important to know that they, they do play a huge role in the decisions that we make and just everything that we do here.
 
- Another thing that falls under your arena, which you have a, it seems like a lot the foundation does, but let's talk about the gift shop. Yeah. The Golden Galleria. Yeah. Really quickly. You guys oversee that. And then, but we also have the tree house that supports hospice. So can you tell us what kind of role those two entities play?
 
- Yeah, yeah. So I guess we'll start with the gift shop. So, which is located here at SGMC Health Main as you come in the front lobby. Now, obviously the front lobby will change in a couple years as we reorient that with the new building project to Woodrow Wilson. But the Golden Gallery is just truly a hidden gem, I think in the community. It is a wonderful gift shop. They have wonderful apparel, just things that you wouldn't necessarily find in Valdosta. You can follow 'em on Facebook. Yeah. Our gift shop staff is always putting up pictures of new items that they get in. But I think the neat thing about the gift shop that a lot of people don't realize is that a percentage of their sales go back to the auxiliary services. And then auxiliary services donates the money that they make through the gift shop, through all of the fundraising opportunities that they have, that they do here within the health system. Whether it's selling scrubs or you know, different things that they bring in throughout the year. And then they donate that money either back to the foundation or to purchase items that are needed throughout the health system. Most recently they purchased new fetal heart cart monitors for labor and delivery. So the carts that you see the fetal heart monitors on, you know, you don't really think about that. Yeah. 'cause it's just a cart. But it's really important the mobility of the ease of access to all of that equipment for those mamas and babies when they come in. And just nurses can provide better care when all the things they need are located right there by the bedside. But the gift shop assistant, all of that. So anything that you purchase to the gift shop is going
 
- Through. So you're saying I purchased the, the carts?
 
- You did. You did.
 
- I was gonna say you did. The gift shop is also a perk to all SGMC health employees. Yes. 'cause you get to go shopping. You if you're stressed out, if you're one of those people, like I am, I'm a stress shopper, so I like to go, you know, make a purchase that helps alleviate that. They have great earrings in there. They do. And clothes. And when Covid was happening, that was the one good thing about working in healthcare is that we could still shop while all the other clothes, while all the other stores were closed. I got a few outfits from there. Yeah. But
 
- They carry like mud pie, wig, I mean wonderful name brands and also amazing home decor.
 
- Yeah. Sorry. So you don't have to be a patient or you can just, just come into the hospital and go to the gift shop if you want. Yeah.
 
- When I used to work across the street at the College of Business, I used to walk over here to get like birthday presents. Right. Yeah. Great place for baby gifts, birthday presents, and really good price points. So you don't have to spend a ton of money to get
 
- And something are really nice
 
- And you good. Yes. So come to the Golden Galleria
 
- And don't forget about the unicorn
 
- Balloons. And they have unicorn balloons.
 
- Yes. And for the first time ever, for those of you who don't know, first time on the podcast, Kara Hope Hanson who works in our department is behind the scenes. But we did give her a mic. We don't like to give her a mic very often though, because we know we don't know what she's gonna say. But
 
- Yeah, I I actually asked her before we got started why she had a microphone over there in the background. But now
 
- I did. We invited her to the party. Yeah. It and needed to chime
 
- In. Yeah. It was for the un unicorn corn balloon. Yes. Comment. But yes, they do have unicorn balloons and other balloons if you're not a unicorn fan, like Kara Hope. Yep. And then so the, we touched a little bit on the tree house. Yes. So I don't wanna leave them out. So the Tree House is a local thrift store here in Valdosta located on North South Drive. And it is run nearly solely by volunteers. And the Tree House solely exists to support South Georgia Hospice, which is an affiliate of SGMC Health. So just this past year, the Tree House donated $115,000 to South Georgia Hospice. So I encourage you, if you have, if you're cleaning out your closets or getting new furniture, take it to the tree house because all of that money goes back to serve this community in hospice care, end of life care. They also offer respite care at this hospice house. So Yeah. And
 
- Hospice of South Georgia is our areas only. Yes. Not-for-Profit Hospice. Yes. So, you know, they also as a, not-for-profit are looking for ways to help sustain. 'cause they do see patients regardless of their ability to pay. Yes. So this is just one avenue to help Yes. With that. So it's like you're discarding your old items, but you're truly supporting something bigger.
 
- And the Langdale Hospice House is very unique to this community in that it is one of the only inpatient hospice facilities in South Georgia. So that, that's just a, a wonderful service to those families as they walk through end of life care with their loved ones that Hospice of South Georgia offers. And the Tree House supports that.
 
- Yeah. Yeah. If you've never dealt with hospice care, my father-in-Law was on hospice before. You know, he passed away about a year ago. And truly angels on this earth. But then, yeah. If it would've been much longer that, I mean I think our family would've definitely, I definitely had to utilize that service. Right. Because it is a lot on the families when you have someone in hospice care at the home and that gives 'em the ability to kind of decompress too as caregivers and know that your loved one is in like the very best care. But let's also talk about, you know, I know that you are relatively new to the healthcare space, so you've got to learn a lot Yes. As you Yes. We've probably flooded you with so much healthcare information. Yeah. But what has surprised you the most about working at SGMC Health and getting in the healthcare industry?
 
- Well, initially the acronyms. Yeah.
 
- So - I thought that we had a lot of acronyms. Yes. In higher education, higher education does not have anything on the acronyms in healthcare. Yeah. So I really feel like I spent the first few months here asking people what the acronyms meant. Yes, I agree. Yeah. And if you know me, I don't hesitate to ask. So, so I felt like people were probably tired of me stopping meetings in their track and asking what something meant. But the thing that surprised me the most, just everything that we offer here at SGMC Health, you just, you know, just being a member of the community, unless you've utilized the services, you probably don't know they exist. Right. So obviously people think about the emergency department because for a lot of people that's the first touch point. But you know, all of our services from, you know, the Strike Center to cardiology and then just the physicians that we have
 
- Here
 
- That come from all over the country and choose to make South Georgia their home and bring their families here. We just have such an amazing group of providers here at SGMC Health that truly love this community and, and just have truly made this home and, and have come from places, you know, fellowship trained physicians
 
- And we'll have several of them on some of these episodes, you know? Yeah.
 
- Yeah. I just think about, you know, Kim Mackey as an example that's fellowship trained in pediatric
 
- Neurosurgery,
 
- Neurosurgery, you know, our community, a lot of our community, unless you've needed that, don't realize that we have that here. So it's just been, I was, I was really surprised by that when I initially got here and it's just been a joy to get to know all those people.
 
- Yeah. So I think that's one of the goals of this podcast is in my world, we got to interview all the new physicians. Right. Right. Because we have to tell the community about it. So we interview 'em and we get to meet them and have one-on-one dialogue. And I've consistently just so impressed Yes. By their, not only their skillset, but their attitudes, their kindness, general care Yes. For their patients in the community. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I just wish I could, other people could see that and experience that too. And I think that's kind of what led to this Yes. Is having to, being able to have more conversations with them and invite the community to hear those conversations. Yes. With those specialists. Those super cool.
 
- Yeah. Yeah. They really, they really are a great group and and fun to get to know too. I think that's one of the things we always say is, it's not that we wanna, we do have physician needs and we're always recruiting physicians, but you wanna find not only the right skillset, but but the right person, right. The right personality to serve this community that's truly here for the right reasons. And I feel like we've done a really good job of that. Yeah. With the physicians that we have. And, and I constantly hear that in the community too, once our community does get to know them.
 
- Last but not least, employee giving. Yes. So there's a big, there's a lot that goes into the employee giving. So tell us a little bit about that and then specifically some of the initiatives that were that like the hurricane response. Yeah,
 
- So we do have a wonderful employee giving program. So, which I think is just super impressive and just such a testament to SGMC Health when your employees choose to give back their hard earned paycheck because they believe in what we do. So we have over a thousand employees that give every time they get paid back to the SGMC Health Foundation so that we can better serve this health system. And so they're able to do that through payroll deduction. One of the neat things that we have in the foundation, we call our care share program. So it's an opportunity for employees to give back to the foundation to assist other employees that may find themself in a uni unique circumstance that has placed them in financial need. So, and then the foundation's able to expedite those funds in a way that maybe the health system wouldn't be able to, to help our employees when they find themselves in need. And we, I think just this past year gave back almost $75,000 in Oh wow. Care share funds to our employees in need during the hurricane. We obviously had lots of unique circumstances that we probably otherwise wouldn't have had with our employees. Just one example is we had an employee that had a tree on his home, like literally covering his entire home. And I think we told the story about Mr. Willie and his experience with care share funds during the hurricane through our annual report that's about to come out. But you couldn't even see his home, the tree. And he continued to come to work every day. It was probably a week after the hurricane that somehow we discovered he was living in his home with no electricity. He had sent his family away to stay in a hotel outside of about OTA and he had not missed a day of work. Mm. So, but he just hadn't stopped long enough. Right. Didn't have the resources to know who to call to get that tree removed from his home and then didn't have the resources to be able to put his family up in a hotel elsewhere. And then he himself stay in a hotel too. So Care Share was able to step in, have that retreat tree removed from his home, have his home properly tarped so they wouldn't receive further damage. And then was able to put Mr. Willie up in a hotel until he could get electricity restored back to his home. And there are just numerous stories about that. Yeah. As well as providing food for our employees that lost all their food in their refrigerator during the Hurricane Walmart gift cards to families that needed 'em. So those are just things that we can only do because of employee giving and our employees choose to give back so that other employees can be helped during times of need. And then none of us know when we might be in that situation. And so it's just a testament to who we are here at SGMC Health. It's so cool.
 
- Such a cool culture. I mean such, just to know that the my fellow employee, you know, is there for me. They got my back, you know, should something arise. And then the last part will be real quick, 'cause I know we've kind of went long, but the part of your job is legislation and kind of monitoring all that. Right. And maybe you wanna just take a brief moment to plug the Georgia Heart Credit for anybody that doesn't know what that is or anything, you know, legislative wise that you wanna kind of share
 
- With. Yes. So we do manage government affairs in the foundation, which, and also any grants that we receive for the health system is managed through the foundation. But we work really closely with our local, state and federal legislators. We try to have close relationships. Obviously healthcare is highly regulated, highly regulated industry mainly, you know, for safety because safety is first here at SGMC Health. But one of, and just always helping our legislators know that how the decisions that they make at whether it be at the local, state or federal level impact SGMC Health and other healthcare providers as well, because they're not always, healthcare is a very complex industry. Yeah. And so they're, they're not necessarily physicians or healthcare administrators. So we want them to know that they can look toward to us to maybe answer some of those questions so that they can fully understand how the decisions that they make are gonna have a local impact on the health systems that serve the communities that have elected them to office. And we are fortunate that we have a wonderful delegation of leg legislators. One of the things that the state did years ago was passed the Georgia heart tax credit. So the Georgia Heart Hospital tax credit exists. So you can actually choose if you pay state taxes to give what normally would go to the state, to a rural hospital. So a lot of our community doesn't realize that SGMC Health Maine is not considered a rural hospital. But SGMC Health Bar and SGMC Health Lanier are considered rural hospitals and in rural communities under 55,000 or less citizens. So you can, it's a really simple process. You can find the information at on the SGMC Foundation webpage, sgm c foundation.org or you can go straight to Georgia Heart and it's just a one page form that you fill out. And then if you're paying state taxes, you can choose to elect to send those tax dollars to SGMC Health Bar. And our SGMC Health Lanier, a large portion of that, has gone to build our new hospital expansion project in Arian right now in Nashville. So it's just a wonderful opportunity to give back in just a, a unique way. Yeah. And, and we're fortunate to be able to have that in the state of Georgia and we wouldn't have that if it weren't for our legislators making decisions.
 
- Well and I just read an article, I mean yesterday that was talking about all the rural hospitals that were at risk for closing in Georgia. So the fact that we are able to expand and enhance the Bering campus is a true testament to the benefit of that program. And just to the community support too from variance.
 
- So, yeah. So if you know one of our legislators at the state level or run into 'em, tell 'em we said thank you.
 
- Yes. Well, before we go, if somebody wants to get involved with the foundation, donate, volunteer, how do they get in contact with you?
 
- Yeah, so the website's a great way because once you go to the website you can kind of pinpoint if you're interested in volunteering, giving back events, it's all very easily laid out and shows how you can get in talk contact, whether email or phone. But they can simply call us too. So you can get us at 4 3 3 1 0 7 1 in the foundation and any of our foundation staff will be happy to help you get plugged in. Or you can email us@sgcphilanthropy.org and that's another wonderful way to get plugged in. But, and follow the SGMC health social media accounts because our marketing team is always putting out ways for our community to get involved and marketing all the wonderful things that, that we get to do for the health system through the foundation.
 
- Yes. And I can put those links Yes. In the show notes so people can just go to the website. Yeah, that'd be fabulous. But you know, I have to ask the question that I always ask at the end of the episode, which is, what is your favorite thing to eat here at the spice or in the cafeteria?
 
- So I, I was able to cheat 'cause I've listened to the other podcasts, so I felt like I've been able to give this little bit of thought and, and I'm not that exciting because I eat the same thing every time I go to the spice. So it just depends how I do sometimes get the soup.
 
- Yeah. - Broccoli Cheddar's a fan favorite for me. Yes. But I'm a salad bar girl, so
 
- I a good salad bar.
 
- Love the salad bar. And if you have not had the salad bar either in the cafeteria or the spice, you are missing out as a community member, you should come in just to get the salad bar. It is good because it is more choices than Right for toppings than you could ever ask
 
- For. It's more like a bowl or soup that you end up making. 'cause there's so many different things Yes. That you can put
 
- In there. Yeah. So big fan of the salad bar. Alright. And soup on a cold day. Yep.
 
- I, I can go with the soup. I don't know about the salad bar, but I'll, I'll go with you with
 
- The soup. Yeah. I'm not a big sandwich girl, so I feel like everybody said they're wrapping the sandwiches, but it's salad for me. Well
 
- I just wanna say thank you to you and to your team and to your volunteers and to your board. The progress that I've seen y'all make. The commitment, just the dedication, especially in times like the hurricane when it work, you didn't have to, but you did, you spent, worked countless hours over time trying to get people what they needed. That I know that again, we're talking volunteer, everything's behind the scenes. But I did see that personally and I, that y'all's commitment to really serving our people was so evident. And I commend that. I thank you for doing that and I'm honored to have your team working for us and leading this effort and this charge. So I just thank you for that. So yeah, I guess we'll wrap it up. Anything else? No.
 
- You good? Thank you everybody for joining us today. Thank you Hilary. Yeah, thanks for having me. And just remember to, to like review, subscribe, send us a message on our, on our website and send us your questions so we can answer 'em for you.