The Siemens Foundation is donating $1.5 million to a dozen community health centers in areas hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced recently.
Such centers are the country’s largest providers of primary care and often cater to underserved patient populations and individuals without health insurance. Siemens noted in an announcement that they reach upward of 29 million patients annually, but are grappling with shortages in both funding and staffing.
“Community health centers and their staff are on the front lines providing primary care every day and they now play an especially critical role in our medical services infrastructure when emergency services and hospital settings are overwhelmed,” David Etzwiler, CEO of the Siemens Foundation, said in an April 16 statement.
The targeted centers are located in some of the United States’ busiest cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. Siemens selected recipients based on health “equity criteria,” with dollars expected to start trickling out in the coming weeks. There are no strings attached the funding, the company added.
In addition, Siemens is also participating in a larger collaborative aimed at expanding existing or building up new hospital spaces. Officials noted that the Germany-headquartered corporation is pitching in supplies to help on the front lines at these institutions, including portable x-ray scanners and ultrasound machines.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.