Throughout 2020 Rush University Medical Center’s doctors, nurses, scientists, staff and students have worked tirelessly to combat the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, and continue to face the pandemic today. During spring and summer 2020, our donors and friends showed their support, giving them not only funding but hope.
Rush emerged as a national leader in this crisis. Our innovative Tower hospital facility was lauded for its ability to safely handle a mass contagion event. Our data analysts and research teams built invaluable patient data and tissue sample warehouses, which are being harnessed by researchers across the country to answer some of the disease’s most puzzling questions. Rush leaders have coordinated a city- and state-wide response, advising governmental agencies on containment practices, providing transparency about disease spread, and leading outreach and care for some of Chicago’s hardest-hit communities.
Watch COVID-19: The Rush Impact
Our donor community rose to this historic moment, contributing more than $10 million in gifts, food and medical supplies to support Rush’s COVID-19 response efforts. This support helped Rush save countless lives.
The outpouring of support from our donors, alumni and friends during the spring and summer made all the difference in our response:
- Through gifts to the Rush COVID-19 Response Fund, our donors helped meet the many urgent needs of frontline workers, even as they cared for – at the peak of the surge – nearly 25% of Illinois’ critically ill COVID patients.
- With support from the Rush Coronavirus Research Fund, physician-scientists rapidly advanced more than 70 studies and clinical trials with the potential to save lives and improve outcomes for those with COVID-19.
- Thanks in part to alumni and donor support for the Rush University COVID-19 Student Relief Fund, this spring 456 students received the emergency grant funding needed to continue their education without interruption.
- Our donors’ generosity has catalyzed an extensive and well-coordinated effort to provide care, education and much-needed hope for our most vulnerable neighbors on the West Side.
- More than 400 donors donated approximately 45,000 meals, 130,000 snack items and 20,000 assorted beverages for employees working 12-hour shifts on the front lines.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Rush CEO Dr. Omar Lateef said, “Medicine is a calling. We have a mission, and we cannot fail.”
Those words remain true today. Rush’s successes are shared by those who have stood with us in the face of adversity and joined us in meeting this historic challenge.