Mission Hospital

Responding to Community Needs

As the national recession hit home in Western North Carolina in 2008, unemployment rose and more of our neighbors lost their health insurance. Mission stepped up by providing charity care, distributing grants to hard-pressed community health agencies, and reaching out with new partnerships focused on wide-ranging community needs from housing to education. For more on how Mission gives back, see our 2008 Community Benefit Report.

• Charity care - In 2008, Mission provided approximately $14 million in charity care, and bad debt totaled nearly $26 million - both driven by the declining economy and rising unemployment in the region.
• Community benefits - Mission's Community Benefits Program distributed nearly $1.5 million in grants to local nonprofit agencies to help serve varied needs from primary care for the uninsured to mental health services. Overall, Mission provided more than $78.4 million in community benefits in 2008, a total that includes charity care, unreimbursed costs for caring for Medicare and Medicaid patients, community health services, grants to community groups and funding for medical education and research.
• Lighten Up 4 Life - Over 3,000 people participated in the first year of Lighten Up 4 Life, a community weight-loss initiative spearheaded by Mission in collaboration with the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and media partners the Citizen-Times and WOXL. Participants lost more than 20,000 pounds, making our community 10 tons lighter.
• Nurses build a home - Mission nurses joined together to build a Habitat for Humanity house. The nurse volunteers assisted with walls, trusses, windows, siding, painting and landscaping, as well as fundraising for the $55,000 project.
• Encouraging math literacy - Mission partnered with the University of North Carolina (UNC) Asheville to sponsor a first-ever community summit on the importance of math literacy. Educators, community leaders and professionals working with children of all ages attended the two-day summit, focusing on how math skills are critical to workforce development, social justice, and health and financial decision making
• Inspiring tomorrow's health professionals - Asheville High School and Buncombe County high school students got an intensive introduction to the healthcare field in the "Mission Possible" summer internship program. In all, 38 students successfully completed the program, which gives young people the opportunity to interact with healthcare professionals and participate in patient care simulations.
• Partnering for preparedness - Mission partnered with United Way's 2-1-1 Call Center to provide emergency back-up to keep that vital call center operating in the event of a disaster affecting the United Way building in Asheville.

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