WHEN DONOR IMPACT HELPS SAVE LIVES
The focus on health care has never been more intense and those dedicated to serving the health and well-being of others have more than risen to the challenge.
For the physicians, nurses, therapists, and staff at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, rising to the challenges faced by the communities they serve is not new. As the standard-bearer for enhancing access and making sure all receive the care they need and deserve, Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia serves as an oasis for a community in need.
Einstein does not travel this path alone. Partnerships forged with like-minded donors who believe in Einstein’s mission and support its efforts have helped sustain the hospital and the network since its founding 155 years ago. Partners like Sherry and Brian Effron and their family have made a personal commitment to Einstein and play an important role in supporting and sustaining the mission.
Brian Effron has long been an Einstein partner, but what first began as a business relationship has grown into something even more meaningful and impactful. As Founder and CEO of Healthcare Administrative Partners, Effron has been involved in the Philadelphia health care market for many years. Personal and professional friends first put Einstein on his radar.
“I kept hearing about Einstein from long-time friends like Sam Frieder and Jack Adler,” recalls Effron. “They were involved and engaged members of the Board of Trustees and their commitment to the work being done at Einstein in the community drew me in.”
What began as a business relationship was always supplemented by a philanthropic involvement. “We began working with former Einstein Philadelphia Chief Operating Officer Susan Bernini, but soon I deepened my personal involvement as I was able to see first hand the great work being done both inside the hospital and in the community.”
For Effron and his family, a special interest in what was being done to enhance Emergency Services took on new and special meaning when his son, Greg, became a first-responder in their hometown. Through his eyes, they were able to witness the traumatic situations he was responding to and the impact these situations were having not only on those he was caring for, but on him as well.
“My son was incredibly affected by these situations and it made me think of the emergency services staff at Einstein,” he explains. “We, as a family, decided it was important to us to support their work of saving lives and dealing with some of the traumatic situations which arrive at the emergency room doors.”
This desire to make a difference was fully crystalized in the form a generous gift to support Einstein’s Stop the Bleed® program. A program of the American College of Surgeons, Stop the Bleed has trained more than one million people to manage life-threatening bleeding until help can arrive. Einstein’s program, overseen by Cathy Markey, MSN, RN, Clinical Educator from Einstein Philadelphia’s Trauma Program, provides the community with instruction in the skills needed to improve chances of survival for someone involved in a traumatic incident.
“From our son, we know how important it is for help to be immediate if someone is to have an even better chance of surviving after a traumatic event,” Effron explains. “Our first-responders can do a lot once they arrive on the scene, but those few extra minutes of intervention by someone who is there and can help can make all the difference.”
With the Effron’s support, Stop the Bleed has been able to train hundreds of people in some of the most basic procedures to help save a life.
According to Markey, the support of the Effrons made it possible to launch Stop the Bleed. “This program is providing the opportunity for people to learn how they can make a difference in the event of an emergency. Having access to training is the first step in creating a more informed community and with the Effron’s support we not only have the ability to provide the education, but the tools we need to help push it out into the broader community in creative and accessible ways.”
Even now, when in-person meetings have been suspended, Markey and her team have been able to put together a video training which is being shown via video conferencing to various groups.
The Effrons are making a difference. “Philly is home base to us. To the extent we can help make a positive impact on this city we care so much about, it is an extension of who we are and the legacy we want to establish.”
Editor’s Note: To view a presentation of the Stop the Bleed® program by Cathy Markey, MSN, RN, at the recent Einstein Virtual Women’s Health Symposium, please click here and advance to the 1:26:00 mark.