Work
Healthcare Delivery Systems
We Fund Collaboration because an empowered Healthcare Delivery System relies on collaboration … between people, institutions, and resources, resulting in cost-effective, patient-centered, high-quality care. UniHealth supports this collaboration with activities and programs designed to:
Enhance the organizational capacity and financial stability of nonprofit hospitals and healthcare organizations.
Increase access to comprehensive, coordinated care across the healthcare continuum.
Effect higher patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes.
Streamline operations for value and risk-based reimbursements.
Use technology, data, and scientific advances to improve care and outcomes.
UniHealth Funding Initiative
Pathway to Health and Home
UniHealth Foundation has partnered with Cedars-Sinai and Providence Southern California to commit $15 million in grantmaking and program-related investments over two years to improve the healthcare of those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. The funding initiative, called Pathway to Health and Home, identifies collaborations and partnerships between healthcare and housing providers to better integrate clinical services into interim and supportive housing units.
2002
Adventist Health White Memorial
Los Angeles, California
The goal is to replace the traditional model that the hospital has used to recruit and hire nursing professionals with a long-term strategy that encourages local high school students to pursue nursing careers, help nursing students graduate and pass their licensing exams, and encourage new nursing professionals to remain in their communities by starting their nursing careers at the hospital.
AMOUNT: $450,000
TERM: 24 months
We Fund
Collaboration
These local students graduate and remain to care for people in their own community. Sharing a common language and culture, as well as local roots helps contribute to a speedier recovery, greater patient satisfaction and higher nurse retention rates.
MaryAnne Chern, FAHP, ACFRE
Adventist Health White Memorial Charitable Foundation President
Grantee Spotlight
The State of the American Veteran Report and U.S. VETS
With Los Angeles being the most veteran-populous county in the nation, it is no surprise that UniHealth Foundation is a major supporter of programming that supports the health and well-being of the veteran community. Past recipients of UniHealth grants have worked to connect veterans to supportive services such as housing, medical benefits, and mental health services.
UniHealth Fundation supported USC’s project: The Los Angeles and Orange County Veteran’s Collaborative: Building Capacity, Changing Systems, a 1-year, $200,000 grant in 2014. The collaborative analyzed existing data from their LA Veterans Collaborative needs assessment conducted in 2013 and allowed them to gather critical data through a second needs assessment of Orange County veterans. The results were presented in a report released by the USC Military and Veteran Program, The State of the American Veteran: The Los Angeles County Veterans Study. This report helped the sector to understand the needs of veterans and their families and has helped guide the transformation of services and care available. In addition, the survey increased the visibility of veteran work across the U.S., generating millions in new funding for Southern California and built upon the knowledge and databases enabling LA County to invest $26 million dollars in the Veterans Peer Access Network (VPAN).
Seven years later in 2021, UniHealth approved grant funding for a second iteration of the needs assessment survey. In the second report, there was also information included about the use of the national guard and reserve, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uptick in women veterans, the rapid increases in suicide rates, and increases in the utilization of mental health services. It was time to reevaluate the needs of the veteran population in Los Angeles. This second study published in September of 2023 surveyed over 1,900 veterans from LA and Orange Counties and looked at constructs including the transition out of the military back to civilian life, identity, employment, housing, financial health, food insecurity, loneliness, substance use, health care utilization, mental health and suicide, among others. The study includes extensive findings and recommendations meant to further practice, policy and research within the veteran population and guide community efforts. The research will be shared on several platforms including the LA Veterans Collaborative (LAVC) and OC Military and Family Collaborative (OCMFC) later this winter to an estimated 200+ providers. The data speaks for itself and supports increasing Mental Health Services Administration (MHSA) dollars in LA and Orange Counties to support the Veterans MHSA working groups for future years.
Influence on UniHealth Grantmaking
Being a supporter in both iterations of this research has greatly influenced UniHealth’s grantmaking. UniHealth acts as the co-chair of the SoCal Grantmakers’ Veterans Funder Group, an issue-based group that focuses on members’ response efforts related to veterans and military families. The group examines trends and challenges faced by community partners who support veterans and their families and discusses opportunities for philanthropy to take on a larger role in the region.
UniHealth has awarded $1.4M across three veteran support initiatives and projects since 2020. In addition to the 2021-2022 State of American Veteran Study, UniHealth funded the United States Veterans Initiative twice – in 2020 for an expansion of their Women Vets on Point (WVOP) program that was also funded by UniHealth in 2017, and most recently, their program titled: Connecting Homeless and At-Risk Veterans at the West LA VA Campus to Health, Wellness and Supportive Services. WVOP is designed and informed by women veterans for women veterans, with the goal of addressing the unique needs facing women veterans when it comes to accessing mental healthcare after military service. The program provides clients with much needed support services such as counseling, housing, career development, benefits assistance, basic needs (i.e. food, clothes), child care, legal support, and more.
This past June, UniHealth awarded the United States Veterans Initiative a $700,000 grant over 3 years to support the Veterans Collective, selected to serve as the Principal Developer of the historic West Los Angeles VA (WLAVA) Campus. They plan to build 1,200 housing units for over 3,000 veterans and their families and establish a Veteran & Family Wellness Center, which set to open in late 2026/late 2027. It will serve as a hub of supportive services, such as case management, mental health services, career development training, wellness programs, and more for veterans living on site and in the local community. UniHealth is supporting the staffing for the Wellness Center, specifically the Executive Director and Program Manager.
UniHealth hosted a 10-funder event at the West LA Veteran Campus, that has already raised an additional $4 million for the work. The following are photos from the Groundbreaking event in June as well as the Campus tour with SoCal Grantmakers:
Collaboration
in Action
For over 15 years, Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center has worked in collaboration with TELACU Foundation in East Los Angeles to locally recruit into the nursing profession. The program encourages people who live in the community to work in their community while also providing relevant and culturally competent healthcare to their community.
