When a patient in the hospital is healthy enough to go home, sometimes the biggest barrier between them and the comforts of home is what they need when they get there.
“Oftentimes when patients are being discharged, they can’t safely go home without items like oxygen, medication or a walker,” explained Cox Branson Social Work Department Manager Janine Johns-Shaffer. “If a patient doesn’t have insurance, they have to pay out of pocket. For some patients, they simply do not have the funds to pay for those items.”
That is where Skaggs Foundation’s Whatever It Takes fund comes in to help.
“For individuals who have nowhere else to turn to pay for necessities, our Whatever It Takes fund provides a lifeline so that they can transition from the hospital to home,” said Skaggs Foundation President Meghan Connell. “We can’t think of a better name for the fund that literally was established to help with whatever it takes.”
The Whatever It Takes fund was created approximately nine years ago. Since that time, the Foundation has helped fill hundreds of needs for patients. Last year, the Foundation was able to bless 51 individuals through the fund.
“The Whatever It Takes fund is a lifesaver for some of our patients,” Shaffer said. “It is the difference sometimes between a patient being able to go home or having to stay in the hospital and when hospital beds are desperately needed, it is important that we get folks home when they are ready. It’s important for the hospital and it’s important for recovery of the individual.”
Shaffer said with the rising number of Covid-19 patients, the need for assistance with oxygen is growing.
“Patients who do not have insurance would have to pay out of pocket and for some, that is a huge burden,” Shaffer said. “The fact that we can get those folks a month supply of oxygen and they don’t have to stress about the cost, that is a blessing.”
Shaffer said they have stories every day of people who had no other resource, helped through the Whatever It Takes Fund.
“Many of the individuals we are helping have had to miss work, some are missing paychecks and would have to choose between buying a prescription or buying groceries,” Shaffer said.
“This fund is vital and we couldn’t do this without the generosity of our community,” Connell said. “The dollars donated to this fund go right back out into the community to help our friends and neighbors regain their health.”
To donate to the Whatever It Takes Fund, visit SkaggsFoundation.org.
