More than 1,000 volunteers from the Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier Inc. healthcare alliance donated over 4,000 hours of community service on November 3 at 38 locations across the Charlotte region.
Organized by local nonprofit volunteer service agency Hands On Charlotte, Premier employees participated in activities including: landscaping at 14 different schools in the greater Charlotte area; helping build homes for Habitat for Humanity; and gardening, painting and doing construction work at a ranch for special needs individuals.
Over the past five years, Premier employees have donated more than 14,000 hours of service in the community during their annual Values Conference, an all-employee gathering which took place November 2-4 in Concord, N.C.
“Premier’s core purpose is to help our alliance member hospitals improve the health of the communities they serve. This is a one example of how passionate our employees are about this purpose,” said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier. “Their efforts carry on a proud Premier tradition of supporting those in need, both in the Charlotte area and nationwide."
“Hands On Charlotte has been working with Premier for four years, and each year the volunteer effort increases in size and scope,” said Bob Young, associate director at Hands On Charlotte, a nonprofit organization that strengthens the community by making volunteering more accessible to individuals, families, groups and businesses. “Collectively and individually, Premier employees go out of their way to actively add value to the community by participating in these activities.”
Premier's more than 2,200 alliance member hospitals were represented at the Values Conference by leaders from the Carolinas HealthCare System, Charlotte, N.C.; Health Enterprises, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; PeaceHealth, Bellevue, Wash.; and Summa Health System, Akron, Ohio. During the conference, attendees were offered educational sessions on subjects including aspects of healthcare reform, H1N1 and healthcare-associated infections.