Fundraising for Tomorrow
As medicine and technology continue to evolve, donors are leading the efforts to help Touro University Nevada prepare its students, faculty, and the community to provide a safer future for everyone.
Touro’s focus on advancing medical education and disaster life support training has created more collaborative partnerships which have helped transform the university’s fundraising vision for the future.
A perfect example of how these collaborations are benefiting the university and the Southern Nevada community is the gift from the Engelstad Foundation, which will be used to help better prepare law enforcement in the event of a mass casualty incident. This gift will work cohesively with the generous donations from Michael Tang and Stephen J. Cloobeck, whose on-campus centers bear their names.
Collectively, these partnerships have already greatly benefited the university in the advancement of medical education and disaster training.
The Tang Regional Center for Clinical Simulation provides students with a more comprehensive educational experience into how the human body works. With state-of-the-art simulation equipment available whenever they need, the Tang Center has had a profound impact on how students learn and practice medicine.
Because of Tang’s generous donation, students now know what an irregular heartbeat sounds like, what a breast mass feels like, and several other examples that will better prepare them before they see patients at a hospital or clinic.
“Our students are technology natives. They have no fear of learning new technology because they grew up with it,” said Dr. Wolfgang Gilliar, Dean of Touro’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. “What I love about today’s students is that they are incredible consumers. They know very quickly what works for them. What we still need to do is help instill their critical thinking skills so they can find out why something does or doesn’t work for them.”
Located adjacent to the Tang Center, the Cloobeck Regional Center for Disaster Life Support is the only certified center by the National Disaster Life Support Foundation in the state of Nevada. The Cloobeck Center offers Touro students, faculty, staff, and members of the Southern Nevada community several courses, including Stop the Bleed Training, Basic Disaster Life Support and Advanced Disaster Life Support training.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development which supports workforce innovations, Touro has been able to provide this life-saving training free of charge to students, first responders, teachers, and officers throughout the valley.
The Cloobeck Center has also been used to train members of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and other local government agencies and first responders to keep them better prepared.
“Donors have helped us align our vision and get our centers moving in the right direction,” said David Clegg, Touro’s Administrative Director of Clinical Simulation. “These partnerships have allowed for more collaboration between Touro’s staff and faculty, who have also helped train these high-level government employees. These trainings continue to improve each time.”
Gilliar said having the proper technology available will also provide more opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE) among Touro’s healthcare programs. The integration of additional IPE opportunities is another critical component for the future of healthcare.
“We are poised to get to the next level of interactive IPE activities among all of our healthcare professionals if we have the appropriate technology available,” he said. “That is where philanthropy can truly make a difference. Medicine is a people profession. As a future leader, it is imperative for every professional in any specialty to be educated and step up as a team leader in a smooth and seamless manner.”
Schyler Richards, Touro’s Vice President of Advancement, said donors are shaping the future of the university because they understand the impact their gifts are making.
“These donors understand the importance of investing in us as a university, and we plan on returning that investment with quality healthcare providers and educators to make our world a better place to live,” she said.
Thanks to an increase in donor support, philanthropy efforts at Touro University Nevada have led to more naming opportunities, major gifts, and partnerships that demonstrate the impact when everyone comes together to set the vision for the campus and Southern Nevada community. Touro University Nevada has since partnered with many new organizations which have led to an increase in mobile outreach, on-campus learning, desperately needed medical services, and student scholarships.
In addition to their $1 million contribution to enhance Touro’s mobile outreach initiatives and the recent gift to help better prepare law enforcement during mass casualty incidents, the Engelstad Foundation provided Touro with a $3 million gift to endow its first scholarship program.
The Engelstad Scholars Program will allow Touro to provide scholarship support for some of the nation’s brightest students. Admission to medical school and other graduate healthcare programs is highly competitive, and the Engelstad Scholars Program will help provide the scholarship support that is often a deciding factor for students who can select from numerous admissions opportunities. The program will also help Touro attract a more diverse student body, specifically students from first-generation families or at-risk communities who want to pursue their academic studies at Touro.
“When donors make these types of gifts, you can tell that they truly see the value in what we are doing as a university,” Richards said. “The leadership shown by the Engelstad Foundation will not only transform our future, it will help us provide support for some of our community’s most vulnerable populations.”
With a solid foundation in place, Touro University Nevada is set to take its fundraising efforts to the next level in 2020. From advancing students’ medical education to collaborations that help keep our community healthy, donors understand that their gifts are making an impact that exceeds far beyond the university.
“Donations are compounded several times over because of the students, staff, and community members who all benefit from them,” Clegg said. “Donors have made all of this training possible. That’s why their support is so important.”
Gilliar credited donors with helping Touro’s students be better prepared as medicine continues its transformation from the classroom to a more hands-on style of learning.
“We need to teach our students fundamental skills so they can apply the technology-supportive interventions that we dreamt about 20 years ago,” he said. “An investment in our students is an investment in our own health. Donors are making a better tomorrow for all of us.”
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