Your Gifts at Work
The Friends of Bassett Healthcare Network receives thousands of gifts each year from members of our community. These gifts are designated for many different purposes, but all support an underlying commitment to providing quality care, close to home.
When you support the Friends of Bassett, you support access to exceptional health care in central New York. You support life-saving services for our rural region.
Not only is our own health important, but also the health of family, neighbors, friends, and community. We are all in this together, and a gift to the Friends of Bassett helps everyone.
Your gift to Bassett Healthcare Network through the Friends of Bassett will:
Bring access to health care closer to home
Early detection is our best weapon against cancer, but many in our region face barriers to getting the screenings that could give them the most options for treatment. Many of those whom we serve have no cars, and public transportation is scarce in our service area.
That is why Bassett built its mobile cancer screening coach, a medical center on wheels, to bring cancer screening into these patients' communities.
Since 2008, the mobile coach—funded by generous donations—has traveled all over the 5,600 miles that Bassett serves, screening the uninsured and under-insured for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers.
Tens of thousands of screenings have been performed, hundreds of people have been referred for additional care, and many cancers have been detected early.
You can help us keep the screening coach rolling. To make a donation or find out more, contact the Friends of Bassett at friends.office@bassett.org or call (607) 547-3928. Thank you!
Make innovations in technology available to our rural community
Bassett Healthcare Network is committed to providing the kind of care one might expect in a more urban area right here in rural New York.
Advanced digital mammography, a new linear accelerator to provide radiotherapy for cancer patients, and state-of-the-art MRI are all available and have been supported by the community, foundations, and the Network’s hospital boards.
Most recently, the Friends of Bassett made possible the purchase of a state-of-the-art communication platform known as Vocera for A. O. Fox Hospital. Real-time communication, particularly at the point of care, has never been more important than during the COVID-19 pandemic. The end result will be enhanced clinical communication and operational efficiency among care teams, leading to even better patient care and patient satisfaction.
Help our children receive a healthy start
In rural central New York, many children live at or below the poverty level in communities where health care is not available. Children are among those least likely to receive routine health care, least likely to be insured, and most likely to require emergency medical service.
Recognizing this gap in health care coverage, Bassett started its school-based health center (SBHC) program in 1992 to deliver primary health services to as many students as possible.
Being the first line of defense against avoidable hospital admissions, school-based health centers save state and federal money by providing consistent care for students and ensuring chronic issues are cared for properly.
The Bassett Healthcare program is the largest rural school-based health program in New York State, with 21 highly successful school-based health centers in 16 school districts. The program ensures easy access to quality health care services for students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade within their school.
Bassett’s SBHC model offers a unique opportunity for communities and school districts to meet the health and mental health needs of their underserved students by achieving the same vision – that all children will be healthy and ready to learn. Generous gifts help to keep the program rolling and innovating. For example, dental and behavioral health are now part of the program, bringing these essential services into our schools to serve children in need.
Invest in our rural community
Agriculture helps to keep upstate New York beautiful, but it is in fact quite dangerous work. According to Bassett’s New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH), "agriculture is the most hazardous industry in the nation." Farm workers suffer a fatality rate that is 800 percent higher than workers in any other industry.
The John May Farm Safety Fund was established to honor the founder of NYCAMH, Dr. John May. The fund supports farm safety projects for small and medium-sized farms. Examples of possible safety projects include mending fences, fixing cracks in bunker silos, or upgrading electrical systems. A farm is considered small to medium if it has from $10,000 to $100,000 in annual gross receipts or operates as a dairy farm with fewer than 400 cows.
A recent grant from the C. J. Heilig Foundation is helping Bassett Healthcare Network and NYCAMH to work with farmers to promote greater safety. The fund will supply up to $5,000 per farm to applicants it approves. The farm must match the gift, either through dollars or in-kind hours or materials.
NYCAMH is a program of Bassett Healthcare Network that conducts research and runs outreach, education and clinical programs through a variety of community-based initiatives.
