As a public hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital depends on the generosity of donors to help fund many of its programs and capital improvements. To reward these philanthropists, the hospital established the Golden Angel Society to ensure that these donors are well taken care of when seeking treatment for their own health issues.
“Approximately six years ago, we established the Golden Angel Society to give back to those who donate large amounts of time and money to the hospital,” said program manager Ingrid Delgado, who has worked for Jackson Memorial Foundation for the past nine years. “What better way to show our appreciation than to help these individuals when they need it most?”
As the manager of the program, Delgado helps to set up appointments for these donors with specialists and well as helps to streamline the admission process when they come to the hospital. “I help cut through the red tape in order to get these patients earlier appointments with specialists, who often are not even booking appointments until mid-next year,” explained Delgado. “I also get all of the patients paperwork ready so that they can bypass the admissions bureaucracy and go straight to their rooms.”
Through the Society, donors and their immediate families are also provided with 24-hour access to worldwide medical care through the Executive Registry program. The program, designed to help Society members who are traveling, enables them to receive immediate emergency care while out of the country or one-day appointments for regular medical consultations from renowned medical centers and specialists.
Approximately 600 individuals are members of the Golden Angel Society, which requires donors to give more than $50,000 to the hospital foundation. Delgado estimates that she has so far helped about 75 percent of the programs members, who in turn help fund the hospitals mission.
“Its a very challenging job, because people sometimes resent that I am trying to expedite things for a single personthey says that everyone should be treated as a VIP,” she explained. “But what I do helps everybody; without donations from these individuals, we would not be able to offer the same high level of care that we do, or renovate our facilities using the public dollars that we have.
“For example, donations to the Foundation helped us to remodel our Holtz Childrens Hospital, as well as establish the pediatric ICU,” she continued. “Jackson Memorial Hospital depends on the Foundation to raise the money it needs to make the hospital better.” As a public hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital is responsible for delivering public health to all of Miami-Dade Countys 2.3 million residents, regardless of their ability to pay.
In addition to helping members of the Golden Angel Society, Delgado is also responsible for providing hospitality services for foreign patients through the hospitals International Program. “People are often transferred here from other countries as inpatients, and its my job to help guide them through the system,” said Delgado, who speaks English, Spanish and a little Italian. “I also assist them with outpatient scheduling.”
Before working with the Jackson Memorial Foundation, Delgado worked for a psychiatrist and for an ophthalmologist. “I knew that I wanted to stay in the medical field,” said Delgado, who describes herself as a people person. “What I like most about what Im doing now is that I can help people when theyre going through a difficult timewhen someone tells me that Ive been a comfort to them, that just does it for me.”
Other benefits of becoming a member of the Golden Angel Society include permanent recognition on Jackson Memorial Hospitals major donor wall, preferred seating and special recognition at all events, dedication of a room or other facility at the hospital, as well as invitations to private social functions. What may be most important, however, is the personalized care that donors receive from Delgado herself.
“Its not an easy job; often its really hard work to cut through the red tape to provide these patients with the care that they need,” said Delgado. “But its extremely rewarding at the end of the day to know that Ive helped somebody, and that by helping them, even more of the hospitals patients will benefit.”
Post Views: 1,247
