The 26th annual employee giving campaign kicked off April 28 for affiliates of Memorial Health System. MASH (Memorial Annually Supports Health) enables employees to give back to the organization.

Since the first campaign in 1989, employees have donated more than $4 million to support patient care, education and research. The 2014 MASH campaign, Building a Better Memorial, features a construction theme and lasts until May 23. Our goal is to have at least 1,000 Memorial Health System employees donate to MASH.

By donating to the annual giving campaign, employees can improve the lives of patients and co-workers. MASH emphasizes donor choice, so employees decide how their gift is used. Donations to MASH can be unrestricted or restricted.

Unrestricted donations are used where the need is greatest and help Memorial Medical Center’s Foundation provide grants throughout Memorial Health System’s affiliates.

Some examples of grants include:

• The purchase of four iPads in Pharmacy to provide patients and medical staff access to the electronic medical record, drug information and educational tools.
• Accreditation for a new diabetes education program.
• Identification of surgery patients who are at risk of experiencing an unexpected event while recovering from anesthesia.

If employees choose to restrict their MASH donation, they can specify their gift for a Memorial department, unit, fund or affiliate such as Mental Health Centers of Central Illinois.

Some examples of how restricted MASH funds have been used include:

• Purchasing Sir Koff A Lot bears for patients to use after ope heart surgery.
• Providing financial assistance to patients of Memorial's Regional Cancer Center with limited resources.
• Helping a co-worker experiencing severe financial strain as a result of a tragic event.

For more information about our annual employee giving campaign, please contact the Memorial Medical Center Foundation at (217) 788-4700.