The things that matter most... it's a simple philosophy that means we are committed to putting our grant dollars to work where we believe they will do the most good.

In 2004, we continued our successful tradition of investing in the things that matter most to Tenet employees across the county - by matching donations to charities they support, giving grants to organization at which they volunteer their time and funding scholarships for their children and for minority students interested in healthcare as a profession.  To date, we've provided over $1.2 million in scholarships for college-bound children of Tenet employees.

At the same time, we've continued to honor our commitment to provide funds to help address some of the most important national issues in healthcare today - the things that matter most in our industry.  We believe our $1.5 million grant to establish the Center for the Study of Infection Control at Drexel University College of  Medicine in Philadelphia will ultimately save lives and improve the quality of patient care at U.S. hospitals  by helping reduce hospital-acquired infections.  We've already seen tangible results from our $210,000 donation to the South Bay Family Healthcare Clinic in Inglewood, Calif., which provides free or reduced cost services for uninsured and underinsured patients.  And we expect the $2.78 million in grants that the Foundation is making over three years to support accelerated nursing programs in South Florida, Houston, El Paso, Southern California and Atlanta will add hundreds of desperately needed nurses to the workforce.

Of course, these are just some of the ways that the Tenet Healthcare Foundation is making an impact where it's needed the most in the communities we serve.  Some of these efforts go toward helping people live better lives today.  Others are to make certain that quality health care will be there tomorrow.  But everything we do is to ensure that good health means opportunity, the chance to do more, to live more, to get the most out of life... To us, these are the things that matter most.

Sincerely,

Maria Martineau Plankinton
Director
Tenet Healthcare Foundation