SAN JOSE, Ca., – Regional Medical Center, as a part of HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced the results of its annual Healthy Food for Healthier Tomorrows Food and Nutrition Drive. This fall, HCA Healthcare hospitals along with The HCA Healthcare Foundation provided 878,000 nutritious meals to food banks across the country by donating food or making financial contributions to help purchase perishable items such as milk, fruit and vegetables. This eclipses the 370,000 meals provided by the organization in 2021 by more than half a million.
As one of the participants in HCA Healthcare’s Healthy Food for Healthier Tomorrows Food and Nutrition Drive, Regional Medical Center and its colleagues donated 4,000 cans of food to Sacred Heart Community Service.
Regional Medical Center was also able to present a check of $20,000 to Sacred Heart Community service on behalf of the HCA Healthcare Foundation. Regional Medical Center won first place in HCA Healthcare’s Far West Division for creating the best canned food sculpture and second place in the entire enterprise. Colleagues at Regional created a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge out of the cans they donated and displayed it in the hospital’s main lobby. The “prize” for winning was a $20,000 donation to a non-profit in which Regional chose Sacred Heart Community Service.
“While we are a healthcare organization and perform important life-saving work, it is important for us to think about the ways in which we can impact our community outside our hospital walls. Giving is just one of many ways that we choose to serve our community,” said Ken West, CEO of Regional Medical Center.
“The kind of support we received from Regional Medical Center shows what our community can do to rally and make sure the families we serve are not struggling this holiday season. It’s such a wonderful blessing to see this generosity,” said Poncho Guevara, executive director of Sacred Heart Community Service.
Food insecurity, the lack of consistent access to enough food to have an active, healthy lifestyle, affects 1 in 10 American families. The United States Department of Agriculture reports that 13.5 million U.S. households were food insecure at some point in 2021.
The 878,000 nutritious meals provided to families by HCA Healthcare included:
- 80,722 meals donated by colleagues
- 196,313 meals from colleague charitable donations
- 143,333 meals from division gifts
- 458,000 meals from $140,000 in grants provided by the HCA Healthcare Foundation to the winning facilities and divisions of a creative food sculpture contest