How Your Gifts Help

Whether funding new care models like our Advanced Illness Management program, supporting hospice staff training, or providing charity care to those most in need, donors have a direct and lasting impact on our ability to provide every patient with personalized, high-quality care.

Philanthropic support helps Sutter Care at Home care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Your generosity allows us to provide patients with the care they need and deserve, and also to fund the development of innovative patient tools.

How Your Generosity Changed Lives in 2015

In 2015, your support made all the difference, allowing us to:

• Serve more than 150,000 patients
• Provide $1.8 million in charitable home health and hospice care to patients
• Administer 47,145 flu shots
• Care for an average daily census of 21,539 patients
• Provide services to patients regardless of their ability to pay
• Carry out our mission with the help of 700 volunteers who provided communities with 30,000 hours of service

We Plus You at Work

Fred “Fritz” Harrold was born to make a difference in the lives of others. A successful business owner of Harrold Ford of Sacramento, Fritz has always been a “do-something” kind of person. In addition to running his busy dealership, over the years he also found time to help organizations like the Rotary Club and the Sacramento Children’s Home. “I like to be right in the middle of the action,” he says.

Ten years ago, Fritz also began volunteering with Sutter Hospice — now a part of Sutter Care at Home – because the concept of hospice appealed to him, and because “I like people, especially older people — most have had such interesting lives.”

Designed to provide comfort and support to patients and their families when illnesses no longer respond to cure-oriented treatments, hospice neither prolongs life nor hastens death. Instead, its goal is improving the quality of a patient’s days with comfort and dignity.

As a hospice volunteer, Fritz does whatever he can to be of assistance to the patient and his or her family, whether that means running out to do an errand or providing the caregiver with a few hours of respite. His favorite activity, though, is simply getting to know a patient.

Fritz asks about their interests — “there is always common ground” — and their families. “We’ll talk about the pictures on the wall — who they are, what they’ve meant,” and sees getting a laugh out of someone as “a big win.” Sometimes Fritz will take the patient out for a walk or a drive if they are feeling up to it.

An important part of the role of hospice volunteer is making sure the caregiver — usually a spouse or other family member — is cared for. “Many times, they are worn out. Sometimes I’ll suggest they go out for lunch with friends, or just take a nap.” Fritz says caregivers are unsung heroes, calling them “courageous.”

Hearing life stories, sharing time and ultimately seeing what other humans are made of is what keeps Fritz going. “The innate courage and kindness that people have buried in them — their spirit — always amazes me,” he says. And even after 10 years of volunteering, “I’m always looking forward to meeting the next person.”

Laptop Opens the World to Patient

Sutter Care at Home’s caregivers often go beyond traditional medicine to ensure that every patient lives the best life possible. Seeing an unmet need, Sutter Care at Home staff recently accessed our Patient Assistance Fund to purchase a laptop computer for home health patient Jesse Gardner, who suffers from juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis that makes it hard for him to get around.

The laptop opens a new world for Jesse, making it possible for him to not only access Rheumatoid Arthritis support and resources on the internet, but also allowing him to manage medical appointments and to communicate with Laptop his medical team online. But what Jesse is most excited about is the prospect of taking classes online to fulfill his dream of becoming a video game developer.

Your generous contributions to Sutter Care at Home Patient Assistance Fund makes life-changing support possible for patients like Jess Gardner.