Familial responsibilities, COVID-19 and other illnesses, and an economy on the brink of recession are all affecting nursing professionals and other healthcare workers tremendously. As shown in the most recent IntelyCare Research Group report, “healthcare workers are more worried now than they were a year ago about covering the basic costs of living,” including groceries, gas, utilities, and their rent or mortgage. Furthermore, 62% of healthcare workers are worried that they won’t have enough money to pay for gifts and food during this upcoming holiday season.
In 2021, IntelyCare sought to provide a new layer of support to our IntelyPros the “IntelyHEART” fund (the IntelyCare Holiday Emergency Assistance Relief Trust). We provided need-based grants to IntelyPros to provide financial assistance and ease the burdens felt by COVID-19 as it continued to ravage our healthcare system during the holiday season.
Based on the success of this one-time fund, IntelyCare wanted to find a way to give back long-term. In the months following the IntelyHEART grant cycle, we wrestled with what we could do on a more consistent basis to help support the many hardworking nursing professionals we knew were in need of financial assistance. We decided to take the IntelyHEART fund a step further by establishing The IntelyHeart Foundation.
The IntelyHeart Foundation
The IntelyHeart Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides need-based grants to nursing professionals who qualify for financial assistance. In order to receive a grant, applicants must meet certain criteria and submit an application online. Applications are accepted on a first come, first served basis, reviewed quarterly, and awarded based on demonstrated level of need.
Healthcare Professionals Are Struggling
During the foundation’s first application cycle in the fall of 2022, we heard from hundreds of nursing professionals who shared painful stories with us about how hard they have been working and how much they are continuing to struggle. Perhaps the most painful reality of these applications was that there were so many common struggles among them, not just a few similar stories.
The IntelyHeart Foundation exists to try to lessen these burdens. It is not a one-stop shop that will fix the systemic problems behind the scenes, but it is our hope that for a moment in time, the support the Foundation provides can make a small difference to those who need it most.
The Impact of The IntelyHeart Foundation’s Need-Based Grants
We spoke to a few IntelyHeart Foundation grant recipients about what receiving a grant means to them. Many of these nursing professionals are single parents caring for multiple young children and trying to juggle school schedules, extracurricular activities, and work. In addition to that daily struggle, some have experienced serious illnesses and injuries, death of family members, loss of their vehicles, home insecurity, and more. Here is what they had to say about the impact of The IntelyHeart Foundation’s support.
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A CNA from New Haven, Connecticut will be using her grant money to purchase a vehicle for her family so that she can get to and from work, and get her kids to and from school, without having to rely on Ubers or public transportation. She had been worried about the increased costs of paying for transportation, and her kids having to wait for rides out in the cold weather.
“I was so grateful, I honestly cried. My kids were so excited. Their eyes lit up and the first thing they said was, ‘Now we don’t have to take Ubers anymore!’ This is going to help us tremendously.”
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A CNA from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania lost her daughter to an accidental drug overdose last year. She has been devastated by her death but has had to continue on to take care of her daughter’s young son. She will be using her grant money to support her grandson.
“Nothing will ever compensate for my child’s life… I got 16 years with her, which isn’t enough, but it is more than what some parents get. Now I have [her] child to take care of, that is a piece of her, whose life I get to be a part of. … It’s my reason to keep going.”
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If you are a nursing professional who is facing financial hardship, we encourage you to apply for a grant through The IntelyHeart Foundation. The next application cycle will open for submissions early next year. Please check the foundation’s website for more information.