The Wawa Foundation Donates $100,000 for New Transport Incubator
Orlando, FL, 2017-Feb-08 — /EPR Retail News/ — The Wawa Foundation has awarded Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies a $100,000 grant for its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Supporting The Wawa Foundation’s health-focused giving initiative, the grant funds will purchase a new incubator used to transport high-risk and critically-ill neonatal patients to and from Winnie Palmer Hospital.
The Alexander Center for Neonatology at Winnie Palmer Hospital is one of the largest and busiest neonatal intensive care units in the country. In November 2016, Winnie Palmer Hospital added a new NICU transport unit to its fleet, the only vehicle in the region with the capacity for three incubators. “We transport about 200 premature babies each year, and I know firsthand the value our skilled team brings to these babies in desperate need of care. We’re thrilled that The Wawa Foundation not only recognizes this value, but is willing to invest generously in our program to improve the quality and sophistication of the care we provide,” said Dr. Shannon Brown-Work, neonatologist and medical director for the NICU transport team at Winnie Palmer Hospital.
Continuing its long history of supporting children and families, Wawa and The Wawa Foundation committed to support Winnie Palmer Hospital prior to Wawa opening its first Florida store in July 2012.
“The work being done every day at Winnie Palmer is truly incredible, and we are honored to support the tremendous NICU team and help some of Central Florida’s tiniest and most vulnerable patients,” said Chris Gheysens, Wawa’s President and CEO. “Our partnership with Winnie Palmer is a wonderful example of The Wawa Foundation’s core purpose – to fulfill lives every day, by building stronger communities. We are proud to continue to provide meaningful support through our foundation, and thank the team at Winnie Palmer Hospital for the lifesaving work they continue to provide the community.”
Including donations to the annual Walk for Winnie fundraising event over the past several years and the annual in-store campaign for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH), this grant from The Wawa Foundation brings Wawa’s and The Wawa Foundation’s total contributions to Winnie Palmer Hospital to nearly $300,000. The Wawa Foundation has set out to donate $50 million to causes surrounding health, hunger and every day heroes by 2018 and to date, has donated $33 million to causes in these key areas of focus.
Representatives from The Wawa Foundation presented a check to Winnie Palmer Hospital at a small reception in the Walt Disney Grand Atrium at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children on Monday, February 6, 2017.
About Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies
Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, supported by the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation, is a 285-bed facility dedicated exclusively to the needs of women and babies. The hospital includes comprehensive fetal diagnostics and labor and delivery services, a regional center for neonatal intensive care, maternal intensive care and women’s services. Annually, more than 14,000 babies are expected to be born at Winnie Palmer Hospital, making it the busiest labor and delivery unit in the state of Florida. To learn more, visit www.winniepalmerhospital.com.
About The Wawa Foundation
As an extension of Wawa’s commitment to making the world a better place by fulfilling customers’ lives every day, it has launched The Wawa Foundation. The Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded by Wawa, Inc. to support the company’s charitable giving and philanthropic activities – and ultimately to help build stronger communities. The Wawa Foundation focuses its supports on organizations committed to health, hunger and everyday heroes through local, state and national grants and / or in-store fundraising, such as, coin boxes at the counter and point-of-purchase scan materials.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Alayna Curry
APR
alayna.curry@orlandohealth.com
(407) 900-1358
Source: The Wawa Foundation