Skiff Medical Center is a strong supporter of the people of Newton and Jasper County. Here are just a few ways in which Skiff gives back to the community:

• Financial Assistance for Patients: The hospital's "Skiff Cares" program provides financial assistance for medical bills to those who are in need and who meet eligibility guidelines. Click here to learn more.
• Free or reduced-price health services: Skiff provides more than $1.5 million a year in free or reduced-price medical services. Click here to learn more about these community benefits.
  
• United Way: Skiff employees contributed more than $25,000 to the United Way of Jasper County this year, providing crucial financial assistance to dozens of worthwhile health and human services agencies.
  
• Donations: Through the hospital's foundation, Skiff supports many local efforts in the community. Some of our recent financial contributions have helped:
• Park Centre Good Samaritan Fund
• Monroe Old Settlers Reunion
• Willowbrook Scholarship Fund
• MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers)
• Newton Parks & Recreation
• Just for Kids (Newton YMCA)
• Lighten Up Iowa
• Newton After-Prom
• PCM High School After Prom
• American Heart Walk
• YMCA Scholarship Fund
• Relay for Life
• Iowa Rivers Red Cross
• American Cancer Society
• Volunteers: Skiff and its employees enthusiastically participate in providing volunteers and in-kind support for many local programs. They include local disaster preparedness efforts, fund-raisers for local chapters of national health organizations, RAGBRAI, the United Way campaign, the Senior Health & Fitness Fair, and many others.
  
• Halloween: Each Halloween, Skiff invites the children of our area to trick-or-treat at the hospital. Nearly 2,000 children and 1,000 adults enjoy the warmth and safety of Halloween at Skiff.
  
• Charity care: As a service to our community, the hospital offers a "Skiff Cares" program that provides financial assistance for medical bills to those who qualify. The program is offered to patients who meet certain income levels. A similar program exists for patients who are uninsured. Call (641) 791-4390 for more information.

A study by the Iowa Hospital Association shows that Skiff Medical Center provided $1,686,237 in free or reduced-price health services to residents of Newton and Jasper County in 2004.

"With the support we have in Newton and Jasper County, it's important for us to give back to the community," said Eric Lothe, former president of the not-for-profit Newton hospital. "One of the ways we can do that is to provide health services that are needed, even if they lose money."

In all, Skiff spent $447,152 providing free or heavily subsidized community services. Combined with another $1,239,085 in care for financially needy patients and bad debt expense, the Newton hospital provided more than $1,686,237 in community benefits.

The study illustrates how much it costs hospitals such as Skiff to provide dozens of services such as immunizations for children, free health screenings, health education programs, counseling and support groups, reduced-price health services, and transportation services. It also shows the cost of charity care for indigent patients and bad debt losses.

Skiff provided 44 health-related services at no charge, or at a heavily discounted cost. These services reached a total of 16,332 people in Newton and Jasper County.

"When you're trusted to be stewards of the community's resources, you have an obligation to make these community benefits available to everyone, especially for the neediest people among us," said Lothe.

Skiff's educational services included breastfeeding education, babysitting classes, cancer education, community health fairs, CPR classes, diabetes education, family and parenting classes, healthy heart education, nutritional counseling, parish nursing programs, prenatal education, school-based educational programs, senior outreach services, smoking cessation classes, women's health seminar, lunch and learn programs, and bereavement education efforts. These services reached 6,005 people, and cost the hospital $77,407.

Skiff provided a number of free or highly subsidized health screenings, including blood pressure clinics, colorectal cancer screenings, hearing tests, women's health screenings, work-site health screenings, sclerosis screenings and bone density screenings. These screenings served 1,904 people and were provided at a cost of $7,013.

Skiff-sponsored support groups reached 843 people dealing with issues such as grief, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and fibromyalgia, and a grief support group for inmates at the Newton Correctional Facility. These free support groups were provided by Skiff at a cost of $11,834.

Self-help was provided through programs involving heart disease, nutrition, sports injury treatment and prevention, arthritis and fibromyalgia. Skiff spent $18,496 providing these services, which reached 1,592 people.

Skiff provided immunizations, flu shots and other vaccinations to 2,813 people, at a cost of $80,306. The hospital also spent $107,161 supporting such non-billed or reduced-fee services as its maternal health program, child health program, communicable disease follow-up visits, early periodic health screenings, Lifeline Emergency Response System, and empowerment visits to newborns. These programs reached for 3,134 children and adults.

Skiff and its non-profit foundation also provided $135,862 in financial or in-kind contributions to a number of health-related causes, events or relief efforts. These included donations of new or used medical equipment, funding for community health clinics, medical support for events and sponsorship of health-related community efforts.

Because the survey involved 2004 data, it did not include Skiff's recent sponsorships of the RSVP transportation service or the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP). Skiff provides office space, phone service, marketing support and other assistance for these local health-related services.

The survey also did not take into account the financial shortfall hospitals experience from the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement programs.

All 117 Iowa hospitals participated in the IHA study. Together, they provided more than $417 million in community benefit programs in 2003. This includes more than $353 million in uncompensated care and more than $64 million in free or discounted programs and services.