A press release from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community:

PRIOR LAKE -– The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community will award a matching grant for $1 million to the Saints Healthcare Foundation of Shakopee, Minnesota.

The grant was announced at the 2009 Spirit of the Saints Gala held on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, at the Ridges at Sand Creek in Sand Creek Township, near Jordan.

SMSC funds will match dollar for dollar funds raised by the Foundation up to one million dollars. Already the Foundation has received commitments for more than $400,000 in donations to improve rehabilitation services at St. Gertrude’s Health & Rehabilitation Center in Shakopee.

Saints Healthcare Foundation raises funds for both St. Francis Regional Medical Center and St. Gertrude’s both of Shakopee.

At the gala, St. Gertrude’s CEO Lee Larson and St. Francis Regional Medical Center President Mike Baumgartner invited SMSC Vice-Chairman Glynn A. Crooks onstage to make the announcement.

“We are happy to be able to support both St. Gertrude’s and St. Francis with this donation of one million dollars to the Saints Healthcare Foundation. I personally have had a lot of experience at St. Francis with friends and family members who have been patients there, so I know how important the work they do is,” the vice chairman said.

More than 350 guests attended the event, including long-time volunteers and donors, members of the medical community, and other community leaders who share a commitment to supporting St. Francis and St. Gertrude’s.

SMSC Secretary/Treasurer Keith B. Anderson championed the support of the Saints Foundation. He said, “St. Francis and St. Gertrude’s are the two health care facilities that are not only closest to the reservation, but also serve our Community members on a daily basis. In supporting this cause, we are giving back to organizations which have helped the larger community so much over the years.”

THE GIFT

St. Gertrude’s Health & Rehabilitation Center provides long-term care, hospice services, assisted living, and rehabilitation for patients recovering from orthopedic surgeries, cancer, and motorcycle and vehicle injuries.

“There’s so much demand for rehab beds that St. Gertrude’s turns away between 60 and 80 patients a month,” said Saints Healthcare Foundation Executive Director Mary Clem. She described the typical St. Gertrude’s rehabilitation patient as not elderly, but ages 18 and up, typically needing services to regain mobility and strength following surgical procedures, strokes or motor vehicle accidents. Patients stay an average of 18 to 20 days.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton gift will support construction of a 36,565 square foot addition to the existing St. Gertrude’s to house expanded rehabilitation services. Thirty beds dedicated to rehabilitation will be added and existing rooms and physical therapy space will be remodeled. The bed licenses were acquired from a nursing home which closed in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“Because of this grant, approximately 60 patients in need of rehabilitation services won’t have to be turned away each month,” Clem continued. “It started as a dream where we needed $2 million in a difficult economy. The Shakopee Mdewakanton showed us that it was possible. Through their gift, they inspired others in the larger community to give, too; $1.5 million of our $2 million goal came in within one week.”

“Nowhere else around here are these types of services available. St. Gertrude’s is the market leader in Dakota, Carver, Scott, and Hennepin Counties. Otherwise patients have to drive 30 minutes, often in traffic, into the city to receive rehab services,” she said.

The original plan called for the new addition to be open for patients as early as May 2011 but with funding falling into place so rapidly, it may be advanced, she said.

ABOUT SAINTS

Saints Healthcare Foundation is a nonprofit organization, established in October 2008 through the merger of two long-standing foundations—the St. Francis Foundation and St. Gertrude’s Foundation. Like its predecessor foundations, Saints Healthcare Foundation remains an associated foundation of the Benedictine Health System (BHS) Foundation and exists to generate philanthropic support for the two BHS-affiliated healthcare organizations that serve local patients — St. Gertrude’s Health & Rehabilitation Center and St. Francis Regional Medical Center.

Historically, St. Francis and St. Gertrude’s Foundations worked independently, assembling more than 22,500 community volunteers and $5 million in donations to meet community health needs. Going forward, Saints Healthcare Foundation leverages the unique strengths of each organization, while working together in a new, shared space that offers innovative, efficient, and meaningful opportunities to advance the future of health care across the entire healthcare continuum.

St. Gertrude’s currently houses a 35-bed long term care unit, a 40-bed rehabilitation/sub acute center, and a 40-bed assisted living unit. It is located on the St. Francis Regional Medical Center campus which provides an extensive continuum of care including cancer and dialysis centers, physician and specialty clinics, a premier regional hospital, pharmacy, and dental and eye clinics. Over the past ten years since St. Gertrude’s opened, they have successfully discharged over 3,500 individuals back into their respective communities.

Eighty percent of patient referrals are from St. Francis. Patients with plans to enter St. Gertrude’s after a hospital procedure often reduce their length of stay at St. Francis. Caring for these additional patients also means more on-campus visits for lab, diagnostic, oncology, and other procedures. Rehabilitated patients also often return home more safely and are less likely to be readmitted to St. Francis with complications following a procedure.
In previous years, SMSC grants totaling $705,000 helped fund construction of a new emergency room for St. Francis and of a chapel and outdoor meditation area and Circle of Life Suites for hospice care for St. Gertrude’s.

For more information about the Saints Healthcare Foundation, call 952-233-4400 or go to www.saintshealthcarefoundation.org.

ABOUT SMSC

The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for all of the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need. Over the past 12 years the SMSC has donated more than $162 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes, including more than $20.9 million in fiscal year 2009. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota, is the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Playworks, Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, and other enterprises on a reservation south of the Twin Cities.

This press release and other information may be downloaded from the SMSC website at www.shakopeedakota.org.