The mission of the Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust is to enable the Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) to become a superior regional hospital and improve the health of the citizens of the region. This past summer, the Pool Trust reaffirmed with LVHHN, its primary beneficiary, our mutual understanding that the resources of the Trust will be utilized by LVHHN to have a demonstrable and sustained impact on the health of the citizens of the Valley. Specifically, we have an aligned strategy that Pool funds are best utilized as risk capital, to help identify and develop evidence-based methods to improve the health status of the Valley, to promote leadership at LVHHN, to foster medical education and training, and, throughout, to involve key parties that will facilitate programmatic success.

In 2006, the Trustees awarded $1,923,576 in a dozen grants consistent with this aligned strategy. Some of these grants are relatively small in dollar amount, but they have the potential for sound programmatic growth. They also have the potential to stimulate cooperative and collaborative approaches to health improvement across the region.

To cite several of the broad areas of investment, consider the following: Telehealth services and the development of a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) for children’s health will provide up-to-date technological support to health care professionals while also improving communication for a rapidly growing and expanding population. A grant to the ALERT Partnership to identify the best ways to reduce motor vehicle trauma among our teenagers also speaks to a dark side of the growth and prosperity in this region.

Access to health care for the most vulnerable among us has long been a priority of LVHHN and the Pool Trustees. This year, several targeted grants were provided to support Lehigh Valley Hospital’s good work in partnership with Casa Guadalupe and The Caring Place. These special collaborations and types of efforts have the potential to grow and expand.

The Trust’s commitment to medical education was once again evident this year. In addition to existing support for residency programs in LVHHN’s Departments of Medicine and Family Medicine, new resources for the Division of Education’s “Lehigh Valley Youth in Health Care” programs will help to expose, encourage, and educate future generations of health care providers, including nurses, physicians, and pharmacists.

An innovative program for applying dental sealants and evaluating the effectiveness of these sealants for elementary school-age children in the Allentown and Easton Area school districts has been supported by the Centers for Disease Control, the PA State Health Department, and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Dental Association. We applaud the cooperative efforts of LVHHN, St. Luke’s Hospital, and Sacred Heart Hospital in their collective endeavor to make this program possible.

The Pool Trust has supported the development of endowed chairs at Lehigh Valley Hospital. Over the past decade, the Trust has provided $7,350,000 to both endow chairs and support chairs named for other benefactors. This year, the Trust is pleased to provide support to facilitate the creation of the William H. Grube Jr. and Phyllis Esterly Grube Endowed Chair in the Pediatric Subspecialties.

The Pool Trust has been working with LVHHN and other community leaders to encourage the establishment of a regional public health department. In that regard, we note the Governor’s health care reform plan entitled “A Prescription for Change.” Two recent Pool Trust grants to LVHHN demonstrate a like commitment to improve access to care for those not currently served, including the “Expansion and Enhancement of Community Based Primary Care Access” and the “Community Care for Complex Illness (3CI).” We have also endorsed the idea of smoke-free communities. In fact, the Trust first funded the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Valley in 1988. All of these programs are consistent with “A Prescription for Change.” Going forward, we are also exploring with LVHHN activities that focus on improved patient safety and quality of care, another component of the Governor’s plan.

In 30 short years, LVHHN has become a superior regional hospital. Enabling this great civic achievement for the benefit of the citizens of the region was the charge “initially and primarily” given to the Pool Trustees. Support for fluoridating the City of Allentown’s water, expanding access to primary care services, and developing the first hospice and Level I trauma programs in Pennsylvania at LVHHN are examples of efforts to address this mission. On an ongoing basis, LVHHN, similar to other superior regional hospitals throughout the nation, seeks to continuously learn and improve through education and research that enhances quality patient care and to attract highly trained, caring physicians and nurses to the Lehigh Valley. The Trust’s ongoing support to LVHHN’s Divisions of Education and Health Studies are testament to LVHHN’s character as a “learning organization.” Looking to the future of health care for the citizens of our region, the Trust is committed to helping LVHHN continue in its leadership role by anticipating the expectations that society will place on health care services given the broad range of social factors that enable or inhibit health.


John P. Jones III
Chairman

Edward F. Meehan
Executive Director