Philanthropist Rosaria Haugland deepens her support for PeaceHealth nurses in Oregon
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SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Philanthropist Rosaria Haugland has made an additional investment to create the Haugland Family Research & Innovation Fellows Program to be managed by the PeaceHealth Oregon Institute for Nursing Excellence.
This gift is in addition to the $1 million matching gift Haugland made a year ago to help launch the Oregon Institute for Nursing Excellence. The institute supports nurses in the day-to-day practice of caring for patients while also supporting their efforts to build long, fulfilling careers in nursing.
“A year ago, I challenged the Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation to match my $1 million gift, and they did,” Haugland said. “It is clear to me that the important work of supporting and celebrating nurses must continue. Nurses are critical to the function and sustainability of a civil society. We rely on them in moments of immense need. It is a joy for me to endow the Haugland Family Research & Innovation Fellows Program at PeaceHealth. Nurses will have the opportunity to grow their practice and contribute to the advancement of nursing throughout Lane County and beyond.”
The Haugland Family Research & Innovation Fellows Program will fund two annual awards of $7,500 to support nurses’ research and innovation projects that will benefit nurses throughout Lane County. In a competitive process, applicants will submit their project ideas to a committee of nurse leaders, caregivers and community members. Fellows may use their award to cover such costs as travel expenses, purchasing instruments, hiring a statistician, or accessing coaches and mentors for their projects. Fellows will share their research findings and innovations more broadly through presentations, journal articles and other means.
The addition of a Fellows Program positions PeaceHealth Oregon to continue to attract and retain skilled and compassionate nurses during the ongoing national nursing shortage. PeaceHealth Oregon is proud of its 15 percent turnover rate in nursing, compared with the national rate of more than 20 percent.
“We are so grateful to Rosaria Haugland for her deep commitment to and belief in our nurses,” said Heather Wall, vice president of patient care operations at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, and regional nursing officer for PeaceHealth Oregon. “We are excited to see the research and new technologies our nurses will come up with to better serve patients and enhance the nursing profession.”
The support and services offered by the Oregon Institute for Nursing Excellence are organized around five key pillars:
- Professional practice and education
- Career development and retention
- Innovation and research
- Professional governance through shared decision-making
- Professional nursing recognitions
More information about the institute and how to support it is available at www.peacehealth.org/foundation/sacred-heart/support-institute-nursing-excellence.
About PeaceHealth: PeaceHealth, based in Vancouver, Wash., is a not-for-profit Catholic health system offering care to communities in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. PeaceHealth has approximately 16,000 caregivers, a medical group practice with more than 1,100 providers and 10 medical centers serving both urban and rural communities throughout the Northwest. In 1890, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace founded what has become PeaceHealth. The Sisters shared expertise and transferred wisdom from one medical center to another, always finding the best way to serve the unmet need for healthcare in their communities. Today, PeaceHealth is the legacy of the founding Sisters and continues with a spirit of respect, stewardship, collaboration and social justice in fulfilling its Mission. Visit us online at peacehealth.org.
About Rosaria Haugland: Rosaria Haugland was the first in her family to graduate from college and went on to earn doctoral degrees in both microbiology and biochemistry. She, and her husband Dick, formed biotech company Molecular Probes in 1975, which they built into the leading provider of fluorescent dyes for scientific and biomedical research. Since her retirement, she has dedicated her life to volunteer work and philanthropy, including the creation of Ophelia’s Place in Eugene.
