HCA Healthcare announces $1M grant to fund healthcare's next generation

HCA Healthcare announces HCA Healthcare Foundation’s $1 million grant to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations

Nashville, Tenn. — HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced that the HCA Healthcare Foundation, through its Healthier Tomorrow Fund, will donate $1 million over the next three years to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations (Consortium) to help fund its Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program. The Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program aims to help create and expand healthcare career pathways for underserved high school students across the state of Florida.

“We are passionate about investing in the communities we serve and developing the next generation of healthcare leaders and professionals,” said Joanne Pulles, vice president of community engagement at HCA Healthcare and president of the HCA Healthcare Foundation. “It is important for us to work with the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations, which is deeply involved in communities across Florida, to expose students to opportunities available to create a fulfilling career in healthcare.”

The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Workforce Needs Study estimates there to be a shortage of approximately 463,000 healthcare workers by the end of 2024. Through the Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program, the Consortium will develop and manage a grant process which allows local education foundations to apply for grant funds in support of local projects that foster healthcare career pathways. The program will fund 15 local education foundations in Florida over the next three years, focusing on activities that lead to nursing or allied health tracks and include work-based learning, healthcare career exploration activities and industry certifications.

The Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program grant is funded through the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, a community impact fund focused on addressing high-priority community needs and health equity. Since its launch in 2021, the Fund has committed more than $20 million in communities where HCA Healthcare has a presence and made grants to 90 nonprofit organizations.

"We are thrilled to partner with HCA Healthcare Foundation on this transformative initiative. This generous grant not only addresses a critical workforce need by fostering healthcare careers among Florida's youth, but also leverages our capacity to connect students to their communities for meaningful and potentially life-changing learning opportunities,” said Mary Chance, president & CEO of the Consortium. “Together, we're paving the way for a healthier, more prosperous future for Florida.”

HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation have a strong history of collaboration with the Consortium and its members. In 2023, the Consortium received a $25,000 Healthier Tomorrow Fund Partnership Cultivation Grant on behalf of the organization’s North Florida Division. HCA Healthcare has also partnered with several of Florida’s local education foundations through the Consortium’s Explore & Excel in Healthcare Careers program, which allows students to visit local hospitals for tours and learn more about education pathways that lead to healthcare careers and provides healthcare equipment for hands-on learning in classrooms. HCA Healthcare colleagues are also active as board members and volunteers with local education foundations.

The 15 local education foundations awarded are:

• Education Foundation of Palm Beach County
• Education Foundation of Okeechobee
• St. Lucie County Education Foundation
• Education Foundation of Martin County
• The Education Foundation of Alachua County
• Escambia County Public Schools Foundation
• Public Education Foundation of Marion County
• Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools
• Foundation for Orange County Public Schools
• Clay Education Foundation
• Jacksonville Public Education Fund
• Pinellas Education Foundation
• Pasco Education Foundation
• Citrus County Education Foundation
• Manatee Education Foundation

About HCA Healthcare Foundation

The mission of the HCA Healthcare Foundation is to promote health and well-being and strive to make a positive impact in all the communities HCA Healthcare serves. We accomplish this mission by providing leadership, service and financial support to effective non-profit organizations working individually and collectively.

About HCA Healthcare

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 188 hospitals and approximately 2,400 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 43 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives.

About the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations

The Consortium is the membership organization for Florida’s school district-wide local education foundations. Established in 1987, the Consortium connects individuals, organizations, and financial resources to build the capacity and effectiveness of Florida’s local education foundations. Together, Consortium members raise more than $100 million annually for a variety of locally driven initiatives and are led by 1,200 board members, 80% of whom are local business and community leaders working in partnership with school district leaders. The Consortium manages the nation’s only 1:1 legislative match for education foundation initiatives and a variety of privately funded grant programs. To learn more about the Consortium or connect with any member local education foundation, visit https://educationfoundationsfl.org. 

All references to “Company,” “HCA” and “HCA Healthcare” as used throughout this document refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc., and its affiliates.