A Force for Community Engagement

September 01, 2021 at 10:15 AM EDT

How our employees' skills and passions create lasting change through community engagement.

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Our world and our expectations have dramatically changed over the past two years. Both COVID-19 and ongoing social-justice issues forced many of us to reconsider what's important and meaningful in our lives — our relationship with businesses and employers is no exception.

Consumers and employees alike increasingly expect more from businesses. People expect the organization and corporate leaders for whom and with whom they work to be purpose-led and to reflect their values. At the front of that charge are those who straddle the line between CEO and consumer — employees.

Caring for Community

People from every corner of the world have a passion to contribute to society — and that doesn’t go away when they come to work. To support and amplify those passions, we create opportunities for our employees to use their unique skills as a force for good. These programs, combined with individual efforts, help create long-term solutions to some of healthcare and society’s biggest challenges.

Not Just A Day Job: Skills-Based Volunteering

As the leading global healthcare technology company, our employees’ specialized health technology expertise can dramatically change health outcomes in communities.

When the global pandemic struck Rice County, MN, HealthFinders Collaborative looked for new ways to care for the more than 5,000 underserved people supported by the non-profit. This was especially challenging, as many of those patients didn’t trust or were unfamiliar with virtual care offerings. With the help of the Medtronic Foundation and employee volunteers, the HealthFinders team improved their virtual care delivery and coordination method. Together, they analyzed their existing digital visit systems, the needs of patients, and the needs of community health workers. In just one year since the HealthFinders COVID-19 response project was completed, more than 29 percent of the HealthFinders patient population transitioned to virtual video visits.

With the rise of virtual care accelerated by the pandemic, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) saw both a need and an opportunity to modernize its tech systems. The goal? Reducing HIV prevalence and improving public health in KHPT’s region of India. KHPT’s key change agents, community health workers, needed a dashboard and monitoring system to ensure that they reached the right people with care at the right time. Working in partnership with the Medtronic Foundation, Medtronic engineering and IT teams volunteered for a three-month project to assess the KHPT mobile app interface and recommended comprehensive changes to the user experience, data visualization, and support for community healthcare workers.

No Matter the Challenge, Our Employees Find a Way

In addition to our skills-based volunteering program, the Medtronic Foundation addresses health access issues through community engagement, grant funding, and disaster relief efforts. Through a virtual train-the-trainer COVID-19 response program with Project HOPE and the American Heart Association, the Medtronic Foundation and employee volunteers helped 3,000+ people learn how to better care for themselves and patients through a pandemic.

Beyond COVID-19, natural disasters also exacerbate healthcare disparities. Whether we’re creating donation drives for flood victims in Indonesia or helping communities rebuild health infrastructure after hurricanes, Medtronic employees answer the call.

Supporting Passions Around the World: Personal Community Engagement

Within our organization, there are as many causes to champion as there are employees. The Medtronic Foundation supports them through community engagement programs like:

Community Impact Champions: Employees go through intensive training to become Medtronic Foundation Community Impact Champions. These peer leaders spearhead volunteering efforts and rally others to join by using their own stories to convey the true impact and meaning of community engagement.
Matched Giving: The Medtronic Foundation matches Medtronic employee and retiree donations made to any eligible nonprofit up to $5,000 USD annually.
Volunteer Grants: For every 10 volunteer hours, employees can earn $200 volunteer grants (up to $1,000 per calendar year, per employee) to give to eligible nonprofits of their choice.
Project 6: A company-wide kick-off of programming, volunteering resources, and events to start 365 days of giving back to causes that mean the most to Medtronic employees.

Change That Lasts

As a mission-led company, we know that developing extraordinary healthcare technologies isn't enough. Through skills-based volunteering and community engagements beyond our day-to-day jobs, we can drive even greater improvement in healthcare outcomes. That is why we support and will continue to support the extraordinary volunteering efforts of our employees. We're not just helping individuals, NGOs, and communities through a moment in time; we're helping them secure better futures.