HCA Healthcare Hope Fund extends aid, employees rally to help people in Puerto Rico

Our HCA Healthcare Hope Fund sets out to do exactly what its name implies: give hope. And, thanks to the generous donations of countless HCA Healthcare employees, the Hope Fund has done just that to support our coworkers in need during this historic hurricane season. And more.

In an extraordinary move to extend its reach beyond our HCA Healthcare family, the Hope Fund requested permission, through its board of directors, to provide relief to our colleagues who had family members affected by Hurricane Maria. The board, made up of employees from all around the country, unanimously agreed.

“The Hope Fund is primarily funded by HCA Healthcare employees. There’s no us without them,” said Joanne Pulles, president of the Hope Fund. “It’s because of employee donations in times of disaster and throughout the year we are able to pay it forward when their families need it most.”

Hurricane Maria made direct landfall on Puerto Rico, killing at least 45 people, creating a humanitarian crisis and displacing millions of the island’s citizens. Among those include our HCA Healthcare colleagues’ immediate and extended family.

With the help of the Hope Fund, eligible HCA Healthcare employees will qualify for disaster travel assistance to and from Puerto Rico for themselves or eligible family members. Burial assistance to family who suffered the loss of a loved one is also now available.

“We all understand that something like a natural disaster or an injury or illness could affect any of us, at any time. That’s where the Hope Fund becomes real for people – when you’re able to help someone you know, and in this case, their families too,” Pulles said.

That’s the HCA Healthcare way. You’ll see it in the Hope Fund. You’ll discover it by the contributions from patients, physicians, and vendors. You’ll find it in stories like Josue Quinones, a senior director of performance improvement in HCA Healthcare’s East Florida Division, who organized a relief effort to donate supplies for his native Puerto Rico. You’ll witness it in the outpouring of support and donations like water, food, toiletries, diapers, and batteries that he received from his HCA Healthcare colleagues throughout East Florida, which had just been battered by Hurricane Irma.

People helping people. That’s what HCA Healthcare employees do best.

Caregivers at Lawnwood Medical Center, part of the HCA Healthcare East Florida Division, donated supplies to Josue for Puerto Rico relief (also pictured above). 

Josue Quinones

The HCA Healthcare Hope Fund has provided more than $2.94 million in assistance to colleagues affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and based on the special circumstance, will now offer hurricane relief to family members of HCA Healthcare employees affected by Hurricane Maria. Since inception, the Hope Fund has provided more than 27,000 grants totaling more than $38 million in assistance to HCA Healthcare employees. HCA Healthcare employees, vendors, affiliated physicians, patients and the general public can make tax-deductible donations to the fund. To make a donation, click here.