Volunteers from Charlotte provide community service at 38 locations

Nov 6 2009

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.

As part of Premier’s Corporate Social Responsibility program, Premier encourages direct community service by both individuals and teams. Premier provides employees paid time off for volunteering, donating $100 to registered charities for every eligible eight hours an employee volunteers, as well as matching 50 percent of employee contributions to nonprofit organizations up to $2,500 per employee per fiscal year.

Additionally, Premier holds weekly “Jeans Days” to raise money for national charitable organizations; employees wear blue jeans to work to signify that they have made a contribution to such organizations.

Premier’s Corporate Social Responsibility program also recognizes innovative not-for-profit organizations that meet the needs of the medically underserved and those outside the healthcare mainstream. Established 18 years ago, the Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award program annually honors a winner and five runners-up with $190,000 in cash awards along with opportunities for publicity and knowledge-sharing.