"The unique aspect of H2H is that the members get to vote each year on where our funds will go" - Betsy Dawes an H2H founding member
Hope to Health (H2H), El Camino Hospital Foundation's women's giving circle, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Over the past decade, the committee has contributed more than $500,000 through its members' pooled donations to healthcare programs and services at El Camino Hospital that benefit women and families.
"A small group of women started with the idea of creating a way to help women in our area by finding and funding programs that directly improve health services," recalls founding member Betsy Dawes. Since its inception, the organization has supported, among other projects, the gynecological care program for under served women at the RotaCare Clinic; women s screenings for heart disease and diabetes through the South Asian Heart Center; El Camino Hospital's menopause and pelvic health programs; and outpatient mental health care for adolescents, older adults, and women with postpartum depression.
Membership dues of $1,000 per year underwrite the giving program. Every winter, H2H solicits grant proposals from patient centered departments at El Camino Hospital. "Each member votes on which programs she believes in," Dawes explains. "The results are that the hospital community benefits from the financial boost and from the care that went into our choices."
H2H President Margaret Capriles says, "We take pride in identifying some of the great ideas from the hospital staff that will improve women's health and as a result bring those services to our community. Some of these programs have gained national recognition for being at the forefront of their professional specialty."
H2H members also receive invitations to social and informative events and activities held throughout the year that focus on women's well-being. They hear directly from their new grantees at a member appreciation event in the spring and receive feedback throughout the year on the impact their grants are having. "Membership is a fabulous investment in women's health, with additional educational benefits for yourself," Capriles says, "and the women are phenomenal."
New members are always welcome.
For more info or to join H2H, please contact Kirsten Krimsley, El Camino Hospital Foundation’s manager of special events, at 650-988-4189 or visit Hope to Health.
This article first appeared in the Spring 2016 edition of the El Camino Hospital Health Beat magazine.
