Scott Webb (Host): On a special episode of the podcast today, I'm joined by the president of the Health First Foundation, Michael Seeley. And he's here today to tell us about the amazing work that the foundation does to help patients and the community and give us all a sense of how we can get involved, donate, volunteer, and more.

 This is Putting Your Health First, the podcast from Health First. I'm Scott Webb. Michael, thanks so much for your time today. We're going to talk about Health First and what it means to be a nonprofit health and wellness organization and, you know, the impact of giving, philanthropy, and so on. So, let's start there. Tell us what it means to be a nonprofit health and wellness organization.

Michael Seeley: Yeah, thanks for asking. So, being a not-for-profit health and wellness organization means, in short, we have no shareholders. So, that means we are continually investing and reinvesting in our own facilities and our own institutions to serve the community. And because we're locally owned and locally controlled, we're laser focused on serving the community that we live in, and we make decisions based on that mission and our obligation to do it sustainably. And we do all this with the help of the community, whether through our wellness grants that we'll talk about in a moment, I'm sure, or through the philanthropic support that we receive from the community.

Host: Yeah, I love that. I always love hearing that it's, you know, patients first, community first, and no shareholders per se involved in any sort of traditional financial way. I know that you're the president of the Health First Foundation, so tell me about your work and how it supports Health First.

Michael Seeley: I am in the absolutely privileged position of being able to represent the clinical work that we're doing in the community. And so, we do that in two ways. So, we're broadly the team that connects passion with program, whether it's our passion for serving the community and, you know, knowing what programs we need either internally or through partnerships in the community to address a pressing need in the community or whether it's identifying somebody in the community who has a passion for helping people and then connecting that passion with the programs that we've got here at Health First to serve our patients.

The Foundation Board is really the group that helps guide our work. And they're a passionate group of people in the community who understand the positive multigenerational impact that philanthropy has on our ability to deliver world-class care here in Brevard. So even during turbulent financial times, the healthcare industry operates on a razor-thin profit margin. So, our board and our supporters in the community help us do things we might not normally be able to do, or maybe we wouldn't be able to do things quite as quickly if we were just funding them out of operations, or even having to make decisions about what programs get our finite resources.

So, the foundation funds many things at Health First, all through donor support. And these can be big catalytic transformational things like the TAVR program, the Transaortic Valve Replacement Program. It's something that you would typically find in some of the biggest metropolitan, often academic, medical centers in the country and it's available right here in Melbourne on the Space Coast and that was something that was funded through philanthropic support. The da Vinci Robot, a multi million dollar surgical tool that reduces operative times, it reduces recovery times postoperatively, that's something that's been funded through philanthropic support through the foundation. The pediatric emergency department, it's a special place where kids can go to receive kid-themed, kid-sized, just really great care in their time of need. Also recently, we had someone in the community that identified a need for a licensed clinical social worker at the Health First Cancer Institute, and that was something that we had in our plans, but we hadn't funded it just yet. And she came forward and donated the funds that allowed us to do that now, immediately. And it was something that we can celebrate both in her lifetime and start helping the patients in Brevard during their time of need. So, those are big transformational things.

But the foundation also interacts with people around important programmatic, what I call bite-sized giving opportunities. We have a golf tournament that funds our aging services program. So, we know with an aging population here in Brevard that there are many services and support programs that the patients themselves and the caregivers of the patients, so the families of the patients, need. And so, our aging services program, those services are provided free of charge or at a greatly reduced fee. And our ability to do that is made possible by the golf tournament and other philanthropic support we get. Camp Bright Star is a program for children who are experiencing loss. And this is a program where they can play, interact with, it's a supportive therapeutic environment where kids who've lost a loved one, a family member are taught to kind of deal with their emotions, but also they're told that they're not alone in the pain and the emotions that they're feeling about their loss. And so, kids are able to participate in that for free because of the philanthropic support that we get from the community.

And then, also, the Compassionate Care Fund is something where just a small gift can make a really big difference in helping us deliver the care for people, for example, who don't have reliable transportation to get the life-saving care that we're offering here at Health First. The Compassionate Care Fund is a tool that our case managers and our clinicians can use to help people get to the care that they need. And that's all funded through philanthropic support.

Host: Yeah, it's all amazing stuff. I know how expensive da Vinci robots are. So amazing to have one there. And as you say, the small, the big, gifting, donations, volunteering, all of it matters ultimately. And I think I have a sense of this, but what inspires you in the work that you do with the foundation? And ultimately, what do you really love most about working with Health First?

Michael Seeley: The support that we facilitate is very rewarding and knowing that we get to connect thoughtful people in the community who really want to make a difference with the programs and the caregivers and the physicians and the nurses that are making the difference. It is the best thing in the world to bring those two groups together. We see the outcomes in many inspirational ways. There's not a day that I don't see our First Flight helicopter, for example, flying overhead. And that's something that was catalyzed many years ago by someone in the community who was a patient in our trauma program. Nancy Taylor, she's on our board now. And she had recognized the need for top level trauma care in the community and having a helicopter where we can very quickly transfer patients in between facilities or picking people up in their time of need and get them to the hospital within that golden hour. Every time I see that helicopter, I get chills just sort of thinking about the service that we're able to emergently provide, that's a Health First helicopter piloted by Health First pilots and just really talented paramedics on board, I think on average three or four times a day, they're responding to some devastatingly serious things and just knowing that they exist, it is tremendously, tremendously rewarding.

I will say the most emotional moments for me though are when we're able to connect grateful families and grateful patients who want to do something to thank the people that treated them in their time of need. And that can range from just a letter recognizing their care team to a small gift thanking their care team to a large gift thanking their care team, and being able to bring the caregivers together who are accustomed really to working at a high-paced, demanding clinical environment to bring them into a space where they're being recognized for the care that they're providing every minute of every day, by families and patients who receive that care. It's emotional, it's rewarding, and it's magical to see people come together in that way. And that is just the best.

Host: It sounds just completely inspirational, I'm sure. Let's talk about some of the ways that folks that folks can give back if they're listening to this and they want to get involved and they want to give back, whether that's volunteering or otherwise. Give us some ideas.

Michael Seeley: The best thing that I can point to is to visit our website. So, we're hf.org/give, and everything is mapped out there. We offer ways to get involved through our golf tournament, either playing in it or even volunteering at the golf tournament to help people during the day that we're raising needed funds for our aging services program. That's a great way for people to get involved.

Find a program that speaks to you. It could be aging services, it could be the Camp Bright Star, the Compassionate Care Fund. Compassionate Care Fund, you know, it is something where even $20 can help cover someone's copay that they may not be able to afford to be seen in a clinic or they may not be able to afford prescription that they need to continue their healing journey.

And so, there's a way to get involved at any particular level. You said volunteering, volunteering is exactly a great way for people to get involved and we have volunteer opportunities at all four of our hospitals. We've got volunteer opportunities at our hospice house. And some of these programs are just incredible. They can help patients and families find their way in the facilities. They can, you know, help out at information desks. We have a program called No One Dies Alone. There is a program that runs in conjunction with our pastoral care program where volunteers sit with patients at end-of-life situations. And it is just a special individual that it takes to be part of that. And they're really just very valued members of our care team here.

Host: Yeah. I want to have you share a story where giving has directly improved patient care or healthcare access in the community.

Michael Seeley: So, I spoke about the TAVR program, the Transaortic Valve Replacement Program. We just celebrated the 1000th TAVR procedure that was done at Holmes Regional Medical Center. The patient's name, her name is Barbara. And she holds the distinction of being that milestone patient, and we would celebrate that milestone on its own. But her story is so compelling and so motivating, and it really just speaks to why we do what we do and why the donors do what they do to help make this possible, right? I mean, we normally talk about healthcare in terms of like our dedication to helping patients feel better and live well. But for this patient, for the 1000th patient that went through this, Barbara, her decision to undergo this procedure was primarily based on her commitment to her son, that she would be with him at his wedding. So for her, there was no option. That was the only thing that she cared about. And so, Dr. Campbell, our cardiothoracic surgeon did this procedure. And because of this procedure and the fact that it was available here, she was able to share that day with her son and his new bride. And the recovery turned out just remarkably smooth. She told us afterward, she likened it to a simple tonsillectomy, is what she said, which I mean, this is a valve replacement. And it's really so funny and just delightful to hear her describe it that way.

But I mean, I talk about the Compassionate Care Fund at the other end of the spectrum. The TAVR Program is a multi-million dollar program that we were able to fund. The Compassionate Care Fund actually, it got its start because one of our radiation therapists, Dr. Pendergast, he had a patient that was getting daily RT treatment to treat a particular cancer that responded very well to RT treatment. But this patient, she kept missing appointments and Dr. Pendergast and his office, they reached out to her and said, "You keep missing these appointments." and she explained that she didn't have reliable transportation to get to the cancer institute. And this is one of the most frustrating things that we could hear because she lived like 1. 6 miles away from the cancer institute. And she didn't have a ride, she didn't have any loved ones, and public transportation, it took about an hour and a half each way to do that. And so, for just a simple maybe $80 or so, we were able to get her rides to complete her radiation oncology treatment. And that 80 or so dollars that somebody donated to the Compassionate Care Fund, it saved her life. And it was just amazing. But all credit to her care team, you know, that they recognize this problem and that they gave us and the community a chance to solve that problem for her. It is incredible.

Host: Yeah, it really is. And sometimes that gets overlooked. We have a lot of hospitals and systems, all this amazing stuff, but sometimes it's as simple as getting the folks there to receive the treatment to take advantage of TAVR and da Vinci and all of that. I want to have you talk about some of the collaborations between the foundation and other organizations that really maximize the impact in healthcare.

Michael Seeley: Yeah. So, part of our duty as a not-for-profit health system here in Brevard is we care for the entire community and we have a conscious and deliberate commitment to serve the healthcare needs of the community. And so, every three years we do a community health needs assessment where we assess the health disparities in the community. And consistently, one of the challenges that we commit to address is improving access to healthcare and improving physical fitness and healthy meals, particularly in the children of Brevard. And so through that mandate, we have an annual process where we invite submissions from other not-for-profit organizations in the community whose missions align with Health First, particularly around the area of improving access to healthcare and physical fitness and healthy eating in kids. And so, it's a competitive grant process. And so, two years ago, we selected 12 organizations and awarded about 380,000 in the community, this most recent fiscal year. We selected 15 organizations and awarded just over 400,000 in the community. And so, this is a wide range of organizations, WAYS For Life, Boys and Girls Club, they're a new life mission. These are organizations and they come in and they partner with us. And they explain, you know, where they think they can move needles, where they can identify members of the community in need and they develop implementation strategies around it. And we are honored. We are pleased to partner with these organizations.

And in the last fiscal year, when we measured this, these partnerships touched about 24 some odd thousand people in Brevard. And nearly 90% of the organizations that we partnered with in our first year doing this met the goals that they mapped out at the beginning of the program. And so, it's a conscious decision on the part of Health First knowing that we neither should nor, you know, can we be doing this work alone? And by engaging these community partners in this wellness grant process, we're multiplying our impact and extending our reach in the community.

My job is exceedingly rewarding, I mean, because I get to connect people who give us money and philanthropic support and volunteer with us to do things. And then, we also get to use our own Health First resources and give that money back in the community and give those resources back in the community to make tangible, meaningful differences.

Host: Yeah. I just want to wrap up here with having you give us some advice. You know, you mentioned the website earlier, maybe the best place to start, but give individuals, if they want to make a meaningful impact through charitable giving, where do they start, Michael?

Michael Seeley: Find an organization that piques your interest or ideally connects to something or a cause that you're passionate about. It doesn't have to be healthcare. I have a bias, clearly. But my advice is to get involved, start small. Remember every contribution, no matter how small, makes a difference. There are many deserving charities in Brevard. Do your research, ask questions of the organization. If you're unsure where to focus your time and resources, consider talking to more of an umbrella organization like the Community Foundation for Brevard. They have programs and partnerships with the organizations like Health First, and they're addressing a wide range of community needs. But really, I can't stress enough, get involved. The not-for-profit sector serves our community very, very well. And with the help of the community giving back to the not-for-profit sector, we can really continue to make Brevard County the very best place to live.

Host: I love that. That should be on a T-shirt somewhere, Michael. Brevard County, the best place to live. And you get a sense today, I'm sure listeners do of, you know, how health first and the foundation are doing their part to make that happen. So, thank you so much. You stay well.

Michael Seeley: You too. This is my pleasure. Thank you.

Host: And you can make a meaningful difference in the Brevard community. To learn more about all the ways you can give back, go to hf.org/give. And thank you for listening to Putting Your Health First. And if you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell a friend, share on social media and check out our entire podcast library. We look forward to you joining us again.