Medtronic Healthy Communities Fund seeks to remove barriers through partnerships with Irish health organisations
Medtronic, the global leader in medical technology, today announced a national health initiative to be supported by its €1 million commitment to Irish communities, in partnership with local funding partners, The Community Foundation for Ireland and The Ireland Funds.
The funding, which will be awarded over a three-year period, will be made available to Irish organisations with innovative ideas on how to remove barriers to healthcare in underserved Irish communities. The funding announced today is a new commitment by the company to continue to build partnerships with Irish organisations. Medtronic and employees in Galway, Athlone, Tullamore and Dublin have long standing partnerships with key community actors in Ireland.
Welcoming the announcement by Medtronic today, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar, TD said: “I’m delighted to support Medtronic in this new initiative. I particularly welcome the focus on projects which are designed to help communities to be healthy, and to stay healthy. It reflects the Government’s Healthy Ireland programme which aims to keep people healthy and out of hospital. I want to thank Medtronic for this significant investment and look forward to seeing the results.”
Dr. Jacob A. Gayle, Vice President of Medtronic Philanthropy said: “Medtronic has been providing leadership and funding for worthy social causes over more than 37 years. This year we’re delighted to be able to provide €1 million in funding to communities across Ireland, where we employ more than 4,000 people. The purpose of establishing this programme is to promote health at the community level, especially for those who have been traditionally at risk for chronic diseases or are challenged in accessing existing healthcare services.”
Consistent with Medtronic’s global vision of building healthy communities by expanding access to healthcare for the underserved worldwide, these partnerships with Irish organisations will enable Medtronic to contribute to reducing health inequalities in line with the Government’s ‘Healthy Ireland’ framework. Disparities in healthcare access impact health outcomes for all.
Dr. Gayle continued: “We are looking forward to encouraging innovative ideas and projects to remove barriers to healthcare services from community based organisations in Ireland, and building a national network around health equity. We believe partnerships are key to going further in this area.”
Medtronic will work with The Community Foundation for Ireland and The Ireland Funds to coordinate this program. Community based organisations can register interest for participation via Medtronic@foundation.ie.
To be eligible for funding applicants must be a non-profit community based organisation operating in Ireland.