COVID-19 colleague relief: The Frist Foundation gives $1 million to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund

While COVID-19 has forced distance between many of us physically, it’s these challenging times that actually bring us closer together. At the end of the day, caring like family remains at the heart of everything we do – whether that be patient care or caring for each other.

We know our colleagues are facing extraordinary hardships as a result of COVID-19. In an effort to help during this unprecedented time, The Frist Foundation has donated $1 million to support colleagues affected by the coronavirus pandemic to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund, a charity that assists HCA Healthcare employees and their immediate families who are affected by financial hardship.

In the last three weeks, more than 700 HCA Healthcare colleagues have turned to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund for help as they have experienced the loss of a spouse’s employment or other unexpected financial challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to assisting with critical household expenses as it always has, the fund recently announced a special financial program to help working parents with childcare costs due to temporary school closures.

“We are grateful for the Frist family’s steadfast support of our colleagues during this difficult time,” said Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare. “This is just one example of how HCA Healthcare rallies around one another to provide support when devastation strikes.”

Last week, Hazen announced that he will donate 100 percent of his April and May pay to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund. Additionally, every one of the 27-member senior leadership team has either done the same or increased their contributions substantially. Hospital CEOs and their leadership teams across the company have also stepped up and answered the challenge to join in the effort. The HCA Healthcare Board of Directors has also waived their cash compensation for the remainder of the year, allowing the company to make additional contributions to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund.

“We are honored to support our HCA Healthcare family through these unprecedented times,” said Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr. “Their constant focus on providing expert and compassionate care for our communities is always inspiring, but even more so now.”

Since the onset of COVID-19, the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund has experienced three times as many requests for grants, of which approximately 70 percent are related to loss of a spouse’s income, 20 percent are for childcare assistance, and 10 percent are illness related.