Ritter Communications donates $50,000 to St. Bernards Foundation
by July 25, 2022 5:36 pm 777 views
Ritter Communications and The Ernest and Anna Ritter Family Endowment recently donated $50,000 to the St. Bernards Foundation to help support healthcare needs in the local community.
“Ritter Communications is honored to support St. Bernards in their goal of purchasing this life-saving equipment,” said Susan Christian, vice president of marketing and federal advocacy for Ritter Communications. “Their commitment to providing exceptional healthcare to Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri has been a pillar for the growth of the area.”
This donation will be used to buy a power-load infant stretcher for the secure transport of infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) from rural areas to and within the hospital. The stretcher is the final component needed to fully commission the neonatal transport isolette into service. Funding for three ECG heart monitors to equip cesarean section operating rooms and labor and delivery suites is included in the grant as well. The grant also provides funding to increase educational access for regional pediatric physicians and providers in St. Bernards service area.
The St. Bernards Foundation supports the work of St. Bernards Healthcare which has provided healthcare to a 23-county geographic region for more than 100 years.
“St. Bernards is home to the only Level 3 NICU in Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri,” said Kila Owens-Montgomery St. Bernards Foundation President. “With one in 10 infants born prematurely, this equipment is critical to our ability to provide care and attention to babies in need and enhances our mission of providing Christ-like healing to the community. The funding from Ritter Communications and the Ritter Family Endowment will allow us to deploy our neonatal transport team rather than rely on nearby facilities with the equipment.”
“We are proud to support the work St. Bernards is doing in the area,” added Maura Ashton, Vice Chair of the E. Ritter Philanthropy Committee. “The rural communities they serve will have access to care that may otherwise only be found in larger cities. It’s exciting to be part of that change.”