Press releases
Baxter International Foundation Awards $3.6 Million in 2003 to More Than 220 Organizations in 25 Countries
Over $5.4 Million in Product Donations Made to Help Victims of Global Disasters
DEERFIELD, Ill., March 1, 2004 - The Baxter International Foundation, one expression of Baxter International Inc.'s commitment to corporate social responsibility, awarded over $3.6 million in 2003 to support the health and well-being of communities worldwide where Baxter team members live and work. During the year, the foundation supported more than 220 organizations in 25 countries and 5 continents.
The primary focus of the foundation's giving is on improving access to quality, affordable health care – accounting for nearly 80 percent of total funding. Specifically, these projects focused on improving access to care for children, the uninsured and the elderly, helping prevent child abuse and neglect, promoting health education and expanding education opportunities for health-care providers.
"The Baxter International Foundation supports organizations that provide programs and services that help increase access to quality, affordable health care worldwide to those who need it most," said Thomas Sabatino, president of The Baxter International Foundation. "By funding innovative, self-sustaining programs, we are able to make a long-term impact on the health of our communities."
Allocating Grants to Make the Greatest Impact
The foundation supports organizations whose health-care programs and initiatives have an immediate, yet lasting impact. For example, in Chicago, The Baxter International Foundation partnered with the Heartland Alliance to fund a new initiative to increase access to appropriate healthcare for asylum seekers.
Approximately 4,000 people apply for asylum in Chicago each year. Asylum seekers face many obstacles in obtaining critical health care upon their arrival in the United States. Often, they are detained in county jails with county inmates and have no access to medical care, interpreters, or health-care providers trained in trauma suffered by asylum seekers.
The Heartland Alliance program will improve the quality of health care for asylum seekers by establishing a network of physicians and mental health professionals who will provide forensic evaluations, and by developing a curriculum and training physicians and nurses providing services to detainees in the county jails. This is a national health care model project and one that could be replicated throughout the country.
Helping Communities Help Themselves
The foundation seeks out programs that can be sustained beyond the life of the grant by empowering individuals and communities through the grant dollars. For example, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, where Baxter employs more than 130 people, 20 percent of households are female-headed families and 20 percent of total births are to adolescent mothers. To help address the high rates of child abuse in Guaynabo, the foundation partnered with the Center for Family Strengthening to fund an initiative that aids young mothers, ages 12-21, in Guaynabo.
This project focuses on preventing child abuse by training community volunteers who are assigned to a high-risk family and make home visits twice a week during the young mother's pregnancy and continuing until the child is 1 year old. The community volunteers provide parent education, enhance social support by family and friends and link the family with other services provided by other health and social service groups.
Helping Victims of Global Disasters
In 2003, Baxter donated $5.4 million in products, through its partner AmeriCares, to organizations providing emergency relief in underdeveloped nations and communities coping with crises. Baxter's product donations help those managing through difficult times, especially in response to natural disasters and the aftermath of war.
For example, in December 2003, an earthquake in Iran took the lives of an estimated 30,000 people. Baxter participated in providing humanitarian relief to victims of the earthquake by shipping critical medical supplies to Iran such as catheters, extension and solution sets, blood irrigation sets, dialyzers, and various solutions.
Supporting the Philanthropic Efforts of Baxter Team Members
During the year, the foundation also made contributions to organizations to which Baxter team members contributed their time and giving. Through its Dollars for Doers program, The Baxter International Foundation provided grants to organizations in the United States where Baxter employees volunteered, such as local schools, youth organizations, social service agencies, and non-profit health-care agencies. The foundation also matched more than $683,000 in employee donations to qualifying cultural, health and educational organizations.
The Baxter International Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Baxter International Inc., a global medical products and services company that, through its subsidiaries, assists health-care professionals and their patients with treatment of complex medical conditions, including cancer, hemophilia, immune disorders, kidney disease and trauma. The company applies its expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to make a meaningful difference in patients' lives.
