Auxiliary Grants Provide “The Little Things”
Projects chosen for most patient impact
Each year, the UF Health Shands Auxiliary awards annual grants to help further the mission of UF Health Shands. These grants are open to all hospital departments to help provide equipment or supplies that will enhance the patient experience or meet a department need.
In 2018, the Auxiliary fulfilled 48 grants and distributed more than $40,000, according to Allyson Crawford, UF Health Shands Volunteer Services director.
The Auxiliary Grant Committee, which consists of four to six volunteer members, selects projects based on how beneficial they’ll be to the patient experience.
Last year’s grant-funded initiatives paid for specialty pillows used to reduce patients’ pain after abdominal surgery, new birthday celebration bags for transplant patients, charging stations for patients and families, video games for cystic fibrosis patients and discharge T-shirts and scrubs for patients who need them before they leave the hospital. These were just some of the “little things” that can improve patients’ hospital experience, Crawford said.
The grant money comes from annual Auxiliary sales events in the UF Health Shands Hospital Atrium and profits from the Gift Stops, located at UF Health Shands Hospital, UF Health Shands Cancer Hospital and UF Health Heart & Vascular and UF Health Neuromedicine hospitals.
“Shopping the sales in the Atrium helps support the grant program, which helps improve the patient experience,” Crawford said. “And it’s important for people to realize that the more successful these sales are, the more money the Auxiliary will be able to distribute for programs throughout our hospitals.”
In 2019, the Auxiliary team hopes to exceed the past year’s funding efforts.
Visit Bridge.UFHealth.org/shands-volunteers/ for upcoming Atrium sale dates and 2019 grant details. The next grant application deadline is Feb. 25. Contact Crawford at acra002@shands.ufl.edu for additional details or with questions.