Health

Parmenter VNA & Community Care recently received a bequest of nearly $5.7 million from the late Joan S. Batchelder of Wellesley, Mass., the largest in the organization’s 60-year history.

“The gift is a tribute to Joan’s foresight in understanding the significance of such a sum to a local nonprofit,” said Parmenter CEO Cindy Mayher. “She knew that it would mean a great deal more to us than if she had given it to a huge organization that, from time to time, might receive gifts of this size.”

Bright Pink is a national nonprofit organization with an annual operating budget of $900,000 that provides education and support to young women who are at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

An organization that nearly shut down after its executive director embezzled more than $100,000, Boston Living Center, will merge into Victory Programs, according to a news release. Both organizations work in the realm of HIV/AIDS.

When the merger is complete on March 1, Boston Living Center will be considered a program of Victory Programs. All Boston Living Center staff have been offered jobs, said Alison Merrill, spokeswoman for Victory Programs.

HealthConnect One is launching a national project that expands the community health worker (CHW) workforce to provide support for thousands of vulnerable families during pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and early parenting.

The three-year project, titled “Tapping Powerful Resources: Strengthening the CHW Workforce in Maternal and Infant Health,” will develop community-based doula and breastfeeding peer counselor programs at four sites in Michigan and New Mexico and build the CHW field nationally through workshops, regional and national conferences, data collection, and program evaluation.

The project is funded by a $3,077,084 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an independent not-for-profit organization that works with health care providers and leaders throughout the world to achieve safe and effective health care, announced that it has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to provide technical support to, and facilitate networking among, 10 countries that are participating in the Joint Learning Network.

In what is the largest, single philanthropic gift in the institution’s history, Boca Raton Regional Hospital has received a $25 million grant from the Marcus Foundation to create the Marcus Neuroscience Institute on the Hospital’s main campus. The facility will serve as a new, state-of-the-art nexus of care for neurologic and neurosurgical patients and transform the landscape of clinical capabilities available in the region.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has joined with The Robertson Foundation to undertake two high-profile initiatives in honor of Josephine “Josie” Robertson: the Josie Robertson Surgery Center and the Josie Robertson Investigators Program.

Helping to make the tribute a reality is a $50 million commitment from The Robertson Foundation, which was established in 1996 by Mrs. Robertson and her husband, legendary investor Julian H. Robertson, along with their family.

Seattle Children's Hospital announced Monday that it has received $65 million in two gifts, including a $50 million donation that is the largest in its 104-year-history.

The $50 million will go to Seattle Children's Research Institute. The money comes from an estate, but the hospital did not disclose any more about the source of the money.

The second donation of $15 million comes from Jean Reid of Bellevue and will go to Children's Bellevue Urgent Care Clinic, the advanced training of nurses and the greatest needs of Children's Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center.

Blue Shield of California said it is preparing to hand out $20 million in grants to hospitals, medical groups and other healthcare providers who are setting up new partnerships to deliver medical care more efficiently. The nonprofit insurer named 18 groups of providers across California who will receive grants of as much as $2 million by Dec. 1.

The list of recipients includes St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

Shriners Hospitals for Children said it received the largest gift in the system’s 90-year history — $60 million — from the estate of Kansas oil tycoon, the late A.B. Hudson.

The gift will be deposited into the Tampa, Fla.-based health system’s $6 billion endowment. Since St. Louis Shriners is the closest hospital in the system to Kansas, its building will be renamed Oct. 22 after Hudson.