Tree Festival bears gifts to community

With the Kootenai Health Foundation’s Festival of Trees just days away, this seems a perfect opportunity to offer some information on the Foundation and the Festival of Trees. Even some people who grew up attending the Festival of Trees may not understand its purpose or how it differs from other fundraising work the Foundation undertakes throughout the year.

The Kootenai Health Foundation was created in 1983 to ensure our community-owned hospital remains strong and capable of caring for our citizens. It does this by helping people who want to improve local health care find meaningful ways to do that. The staff members at the Foundation spend a lot of time talking to Kootenai Health leaders, physicians, nurses and other members of the patient care team to learn what is needed. They also talk with community members to understand the types of programs they want to support. This is the Foundation’s role; to identify ways the community can help, and let the community know where help is needed.

Members of our community give to the Foundation in a variety of ways and their gifts support a variety of needs. The Festival of Trees is the Foundation’s most visible fundraising event of the year and it always helps support a significant need. The very first Festival of Trees in 1989 helped raise support to build the Walden House. Through the years, our community’s support at the Festival of Trees helped improve emergency services, build the heart center, expand cancer services, build a NICU, improve surgical services, and add needed new patient rooms at the hospital. Community support at the Festival of Trees has improved and even saved countless patients’ lives in North Idaho.

Besides high priority projects featured at the Festival of Trees, the Foundation board and staff work closely with our many generous donors to decide which programs and services at the hospital are most important to them. For many years, the 3Cs organization has been a generous supporter of the cancer patient support fund, which helps cancer patients with essentials like prescriptions and nutritional supplements. They have also been longtime supporters of the Walden House. Several donors give generously in support of behavioral health programs and others help patients overcoming chemical dependency. The Foundation even has donors who help hospital staff members complete additional training and education so they can bring new services to our patients here.

Recently, Alliance Data contacted the Foundation because it wanted to make a donation to help children in our community. After speaking with Kootenai Health staff members who care for children, the Foundation recommended a couple of areas of need. Alliance Data chose to fund a sensory room for children with sensory processing disorders, such as autism. Today, local families are seeing their children benefit from access to this amazing resource.

Our community, like every community, has people in need. Some need a warm coat and a hot meal, others need an emergency medical team, or a sensory room, or access to a surgical procedure that gives them the best chance for a speedy recovery. Thankfully, we have a generous community that recognizes the value in all of these.

If health care in our community is important to you or you have a heart to help people in need of medical care, the Kootenai Health Foundation can help. Please call 208-625-4438 or email jholt@kh.org and the staff can recommend a program that will allow you to make the kind of difference you’d like to make in our community.

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Eve Knudtsen is the Kootenai Health Foundation board chair.