Donor Spotlight – TowneBank
Creating Pathways for Healthcare Careers
Reprinted with permission from the TowneToday newsletter (winter 2023 edition).
Atrium Health is a nationally recognized leader in shaping health outcomes through innovative research, education, and compassionate patient care. Based in Charlotte, the nonprofit health system has more than 70,000 teammates serving patients at 40 hospitals and more than 1,400 care locations.
A true community organization, Atrium Health was started by Charlotte citizens who joined together to fund the construction of a new hospital in 1940. Since then, the health system has grown from a single facility to the largest provider in the region. The Atrium Health Foundation, established in 1959, is one of the largest charitable foundations in Charlotte, working alongside Atrium Health as it continues to serve as an important community asset.
Through its current Giving Hope Campaign, the foundation is supporting Atrium Health’s efforts to create the learning health system of the future by building healthy communities, outstanding education programs, preeminent research, and exemplary facilities. The comprehensive campaign seeks to raise $500 million to transform healthcare in the region through investments in renovated, state-of-the-art spaces; national distinguished physicians; innovative and advanced treatment capabilities; and groundbreaking population health programs.
As an Atrium Health partner, TowneBank answered the need to create scholarships available to incoming students at Carolinas College of Health Sciences, a subsidiary of Atrium Health. A public, not-for-profit college, Carolinas College offers an array of healthcare studies, such as clinical laboratory science, diagnostic and imaging science, and nursing. The college serves as a “talent development engine,” preparing graduates to work at Atrium Health and in other evolving healthcare environments. The scholarships will support underrepresented students in order to increase the diversity of the student body and ensure that students from disadvantaged backgrounds have equitable opportunities to pursue careers in healthcare.
Beyond Charlotte, Atrium Health provides care under the Health Wake Forest Baptist name in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as Atrium Health Navicent and Atrium Health Floyd in Georgia and Alabama. Ranked nationally among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals in eight pediatric specialties and for rehabilitation, Atrium Health has also received the American Hospital Association’s Quest for Quality Prize and its 2021 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award, as well as the 2020 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Health Equity Award for its efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in care. With a commitment to every community it serves, Atrium Health provided $2.46 billion last year in free and uncompensated care and other community benefits. To learn more about Atrium Health Foundation and the Giving Hope campaign, visit AtriumHealthFoundation.org.