Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation Reaching Higher Together

Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation announces the public phase of Reaching Higher Together: The Cottage Campaign for Excellence with $15M left to raise by December 31, 2022. The $130M campaign is designed to strengthen patient care programs, fuel innovation, and respond to health challenges, while maintaining Cottage Health’s state-of-the-art facilities and exceptional level of care.  

This campaign is driven by a simple, powerful vision to provide the best healthcare in the nation. To-date, more than 4,000 individual donors, corporations, foundations and other organizations have contributed more than $115M to Cottage during the campaign’s “quiet phase.”  

“This comprehensive fundraising campaign supports our mission of providing superior health care and improving the health our communities.  The generosity of so many of our friends and supporters is remarkable – it’s an example of people coming together to care for each other,” says Ron Werft, President & CEO of Cottage Health.

What the Campaign Will Do

Reaching Higher Together (cottagehealth.org/ReachingHigher) supports capital projects, improves clinical programs and services, advances research, and funds endowments for teaching and research initiatives. This campaign will fuel innovation in four strategic areas, including:

• Emergency, Trauma and Critical Care:  Includes doubling the size of the Emergency Department, upgrading equipment and technology, and ensuring the hospital is prepared for major emergencies.

• Cottage Children’s Medical Center: A new and expanded pediatric outpatient clinic featuring medical specialties to meet the needs of the children of the Central Coast – including cardiology, oncology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, and diabetes care. The campaign will also provide expanded patient and family assistance programs including a new Hospitality House to serve more patient families who need overnight accommodations while a child is hospitalized.   

• Education, Research and Clinical Care: A new Simulation Training Center with high-tech, interactive teaching capabilities. Plus, investments in clinical care, research, nursing, physician leadership and education, including a new pediatric residency program. 
  
• Population Health:  Investments to expand partnerships and collaborations, especially to support the most vulnerable in our community, breaking the cycle of homelessness, improving access to care for the underserved, and reducing the long-term impacts of childhood trauma.

Every gift to Reaching Higher Together improves care,accelerates potential cures and helps us find answers and create treatments and solutions that strengthen our local communities. 

How the Community Can Help

Jelinda DeVorzon and Greg Faulkner — both longtime volunteer leaders and supporters of Cottage — are co-chairs of the Reaching Higher Together campaign. It’s also being led by a campaign task force of philanthropists, volunteer community leaders and Cottage representatives. 

“This campaign is already having a significant impact on Cottage’s ability to serve the people in our community,” says Steve Zola, chair of Cottage Health’s Board of Directors. “We are grateful to all who are choosing to participate in this Campaign by making philanthropic investments to help improve facilities, fund new programs, and strengthen healthcare for our future.”  

The Reaching Higher Together Campaign coincides with an historic milestone. In December of last year, Cottage marked 130 years of continuous service to the community. It is also symbolic of the legacy of philanthropy that started 130 years ago when Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital first opened doors thanks to the vision and generosity of the Santa Barbara community.   

 “It’s not only large gifts that drive our success,” says David Dietrich, Vice President for Advancement. “We are grateful to all of our donors – every gift makes a difference and helps fuel our mission and commitment to helping people live better lives.” 

To learn more about the Campaign and to Reach Higher Together for the health of our community, visit cottagehealth.org/ReachingHigher or call 805-879-8980.

About Cottage Health – cottagehealth.org

The not-for-profit Cottage Health is the leader in providing advanced medical care to the Central Coast region.  Specialties include the Cottage Children’s Medical Center, Level 1 Trauma Center, Neuroscience Institute, Heart & Vascular Center, Center for Orthopedics, and Rehabilitation Hospital. The Cottage Health medical staff is comprised of more than 700 physicians, many with subspecialties typically found only at university medical centers. Last year, the Cottage Health hospitals in Goleta, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley provided inpatient care for 21,000 people, treated 80,000 patients through their 24-hour emergency departments and helped deliver 2,100 newborns. Cottage Health also offers Cottage Urgent Care Centers throughout the tri-counties, as well as 24-hour access to providers via Cottage Virtual Care, an online service for common conditions.