Each year Indiana University Health Saxony Hospital promotes health and wellness in the community by providing free health seminars and education for area residents. In addition, the hospital supports various Hamilton County nonprofit organizations through financial and in-kind donations in order to help meet the health needs of the community.

“IU Health Saxony Hospital is committed to helping the community in meaningful ways that extend beyond our healthcare services,” said Gaurav Arora, chief medical officer of IU Health Saxony. “It was a privilege for our staff to participate in the IU Health Day of Service by building panels for Habitat for Humanity of Hamilton County to benefit local families in need.”

2012 IU Health Saxony Hospital community benefit highlights include:

• During the annual IU Health Day of Service in May, 59 IU Health Saxony team members spend a total of 236 volunteer hours building a panel for a Habitat for Humanity of Hamilton County home.

• To raise awareness of sudden cardiac death and to prevent resulting deaths, IU Health Saxony donated automatic external defibrillators to three junior high schools in the Hamilton Southeastern Schools district and one church in Fishers. Hospital team members worked with the school and church staffs to ensure effective AED placement and also provided hands-on training for using the machines.

• IU Health Saxony sponsored two community recycling events in June and November 2012. More than 5,400 pounds of recyclables were collected at the events, which also included on-site shredding of confidential documents.

As one of four members of the IU Health system’s Indianapolis Academic Health Center, IU Health Saxony Hospital’s community benefit efforts are reported in conjunction with IU Health’s Indianapolis area hospitals. The following numbers indicate the total contributions made by all four hospitals:

• Free or reduced-cost care to more than 139,000 patients ($183 million)

• Community health improvement initiatives ($24 million)

• Health professions education ($63 million)

• Research ($36 million)

• Financial and In-Kind Contributions ($6 million)

A copy of the 2012 Community Benefit report is available at www.iuhealth.org/getstrong.