Giving & Volunteering

Gifts to the Foundation are either restricted or unrestricted. Restricted gifts support programs designated by the donor. Unrestricted gifts are allocated by the Foundation Board of Directors to the hospital’s area of greatest needs, including the critical work of securing funding for those priorities. Restricted gifts may be made to support the following areas:

The Alexis Verzal Children's Rehabilitation Hospital -Your gift in this area directly impacts the children who come to Madonna after an accident or illness. The fund supports equipment, capital needs, therapeutic toys and programming for children at Madonna, including inpatient, outpatient, rehabilitation day services and Kit's Academy (the therapeutic learning classroom).

Institute for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering - Your gift to the Institute funds cutting-edge rehabilitation research that creates better outcomes for patients. Current initiatives in the institute include:

• First Hope - A project that immediately gives a patient arriving at Madonna maximum control over their environment by creating assistive technology packages for their inpatient stay that are affordable and flexible enough to take to their home environment after discharge. This project is in its development stage.

• First Hope Equipment Fund - help provide assistive technology for patients returning home from Madonna.

• Virtual Reality - virtual reality equipment, gloves and goggles patients wear that allow them to navigate through a virtual, computerized environment, holds great potential for helping patients regain physical function in a safe, virtual environment.

• Assistive Technology - Madonna's Center for Excellence in Communication is a leader in assistive technology research and clinical therapy.

Adaptive Sports and Recreation - This program provides community adaptive sports and recreation workshops, open recreation times, and tournaments in a variety of sports and leisure activities to children and adults with disabilities. The programming allows individuals the opportunity to participate and compete in as varied activities as the rest of the community; to try new sports and recreation opportunities; and to explore new ways of doing previous activities. An active lifestyle prevents isolation as well as secondary complications of disabilities. Nearly 500 people participate each year.

Education & Nursing Scholarships - With the explosion of new technology and innovations in rehabilitative treatment, Madonna is looking to the future educational needs of our staff:

• It is our belief that investing in our nurses by providing flexible options for nurses to progress from Licensed Practicing Nurse (LPN) to Registered Nurse (RN) to a Bachelor's program and rehabilitation nurse certification will encourage nurses to stay at Madonna, and attract new nurses to our facility. Along that continuum, nurses will also have access to a wide variety of certification options in treatment areas, allowing them to specialize according to their interests and needs.

• Madonna's commitment to education reaches beyond the nursing staff. We believe that all employees benefit from a stimulating and engaged work environment. We will continue to encourage our staff to set and follow educational goals by providing on-site educational opportunities as well as tuition support for continuing education.

Equipment and New technologies - New and emerging technologies provide patients therapy opportunities they often can't find elsewhere in the region. Some current equipment needs at Madonna are:

• REO Upper Extremities

• Assistive Technology

• Gait Lab

• Swallowing Lab