The Memorial Medical Center Foundation has awarded more than a half-million dollars in health-related grants for community and health-system initiatives – a record-breaking total for the foundation's grant program.

Twenty-three projects, totaling $544,427, received amounts ranging from $1,750 to $125,000. Seventeen grants were awarded to projects within Memorial Health System, five to Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine and one to University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing Springfield Regional Campus.

“This year’s grants address the full spectrum of healthcare offered at Memorial – from birth through end-of-life,” said Elena Kezelis, the foundation’s executive director. “Being able to support birthing simulations, cardiac care and diabetes education, continuing specialty education for our employees and student nurses, and focused assistance for the unique challenges presented by Alzheimer’s and hospice care – these grants truly reflect the generosity of our donors and the range of services offered at Memorial.”

The grant recipients are:

Memorial Health System's Organization Development: $125,000 to provide reimbursement for non-nursing certifications.

Memorial Center for Learning and Innovation: $80,605 to buy an advanced birthing simulator that can incorporate hypertensive disorders and postpartum hemorrhages and provide increased realism, real-time monitoring and a more lifelike newborn.

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing Springfield Regional Campus: $69,305 to create a learning laboratory with manikins and computer workstations to help students learn basic skills, conduct assessments and patient simulations.

SIU School of Medicine Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery: $57,622 to create a registry of patients with stage 1 non-small cell lung cancer.

SIU School of Medicine Division of Emergency Medicine: $25,435 to buy simulation equipment to train medical professionals who provide ultrasounds at the bedside during code and trauma situations, inpatient treatment and sepsis care.

Memorial Health Partners: $24,150 to buy telehealth equipment to monitor discharged cardiac patients and minimize unneeded visits to the emergency department and hospital readmissions.

SIU School of Medicine Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders: $21,029 to fund a two-day conference about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia for healthcare providers and the community.

Memorial Weight Loss and Wellness Center: $18,790 to provide diabetes education and prevention services to community members.

Midwest Healthcare Quality Alliance: $18,666 to fund a symposium about patient safety and simulation.

Memorial Medical Center's Nursing Division: $13,875 to fund a two-day, on-site course for medical-surgical nurses pursuing medical-surgical registered nurse certification.

Memorial Medical Center's Cardiovascular Services: $12,219 to determine the impact of using motivational interviewing to influence nurses with an associate’s degree in nursing or diploma degree on attitudes about and actions taken toward completing a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

Memorial Hospice at Heritage: $9,511 to buy a high-capacity blanket and towel warming cabinet.

Midwest Healthcare Quality Alliance: $9,475 to fund an all-day workshop about the second-victim phenomenon that provides training, tools, hands-on practice and a plan for development and deployment of the program for Memorial Health System.

Memorial Emergency Medical Services: $9,405 to buy adapters that will allow clinicians to transmit a digital electrocardiogram in 30 seconds to Memorial’s Emergency Department, the cardiac catheterization lab and the responding cardiac interventionalist.

Memorial Weight Loss and Wellness Center: $8,430 to provide scholarships to 20 children and teenagers to participate in the Memorial Center for Healthy Families program.

Memorial Medical Center's Heart and Vascular Services: $7,704 to fund a one-day comprehensive cardiovascular conference for healthcare providers.

Memorial Medical Center's Nursing Division: $7,360 to fund two review courses for nurses to obtain a specialty certification.

Memorial Medical Center's Nursing Division: $6,175 to fund a one-day conference that focuses on providing care to acutely ill, post-operative patients.

Memorial Medical Center's Nursing Division: $5,175 to fund a one-day conference for critical care nurses working with cardiovascular patients.

Memorial Medical Center's Safety and Accreditation: $4,900 to continue a patient and family advisory committee.

Memorial Medical Center's Nursing Division: $4,500 to fund a nursing research conference.

SIU School of Medicine Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders: $3,356 to buy 30 iPod Shuffles and iTunes gift cards for the Music for Memory project.

SIU School of Medicine Graduate Medical Education Center: $1,750 to provide a reception that includes presentation opportunities and an award ceremony for residents and fellows who develop a quality improvement project.

Since 1984, the foundation has distributed more than $9 million in health-related grants. The deadline for the next round of grant applications is Feb. 1, 2018.

The foundation secures financial support and awards grants for health-related services that benefit people served by Memorial Health System and other nonprofit community organizations.

The foundation awards grants to central Illinois organizations with 501(c)(3) classifications or educational institutions in communities served by Memorial Health System. Grants are not awarded to individuals.

For more information about the foundation’s programs and services or its grant-application process, call 217-788-4700. Information and grant applications also are available on the foundation’s website at MemorialMedicalFoundation.com.

The foundation’s officers are Bridget L. Lamont, chair; Rob Pietroburgo, vice chair; Cherrilyn Mayfield, treasurer; G. Virginia Conlee, secretary; Robert W. Kay, assistant treasurer; and Edgar J. Curtis, president.

Other board members are Tricia Nelson Becker, John “Marty” Green, Dr. David L. Griffen, Jennifer Isringhausen, Cheryl Martin, James Walter Reed Jr., J. William Roberts, Henry Dale Smith Jr., Valera Yazell and Dr. Donald H. Yurdin.