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NON-PROFIT HAPPENINGS - March 2024

Still Very Fresh – Moab Healthcare Foundation
by Nancy Kurtz

Call it hors d’oeuvres, say, an old-fashioned retro cocktail with a twist of lemon – dinner and dancing, hopeful on the horizon…
Moab local Kari McKay, newly named executive director of the Moab Healthcare Foundation, tells me this may be, omigosh, way premature, quite honestly! she is at the starting line of a new adventure. Well, maybe not so very new….
The innocuously named nonprofit is slowly, somewhat tentatively positioning itself to continue what was started in 2018, it seems ages ago - back then, before the pandemic hit, there was a glorious Gatsby styled Soiree in November of 2019, substantial funds raised to provide out of town transport for local cancer patients, all in all, an auspicious debut, and then, and then… abort mission! The executive director had a stroke, Covid 19 happened, everything went nuts, Soiree 2020 literally never happened and the foundation temporarily went on hold…

“It’s brand new, it’s like a blank piece of paper,” says McKay, who was confirmed in her post a few short weeks ago. When I spoke with McKay, she had yet to meet with the four-person Board and was scheduled to do so in short order.
As of this writing, McKay and Board Member Beth Logan had mapped out a preliminary set of goals for the first few months, emphasizing asking the foundation’s partners, what are your needs?

Just who are these partners? We’re talking about the full range of Moab’s healthcare providers. That includes the Moab Regional Hospital – an ever-expanding behemoth considering the size of our small rural town - the Canyonlands Care Center adjunct to the hospital to support Moab’s seniors; Grand County Hospice, the county’s EMS and Search & Rescue arms, and the Moab Free Health Clinic.

And what does the foundation do that these cannot? McKay points to covering transport costs – no small item when you are a small town, hours away from larger facilities - making sure all these various partners can attract skilled people to fill vacant posts, keeping up with state-of-the-art equipment and technology, and but oh, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’ll know more in the upcoming 90 days –

As for McKay herself, the foundation seems to have lucked out in the hiring of a director who is not only passionate about quality health care and services, but has impressive experience to back it up, including a 2-year stint as Human Resources director for the hospital, prior practice fund raising, and running her own local business.

And as for the born-again Soiree, featuring 4-star dinner, dancing, silent auction, and a “good ole time” – the preferred venue is booked solid. “Maybe looking at 2025,” says McKay.

A note on the many changes going on, hey, it’s something in the air! This writer has been largely stalled in a diehard attempt to track down the trajectory of several nonprofits in a state of flux and it hasn’t been easy! Call it solar flares, sunspots, or Pluto in Aquarius, the stops, starts, and missed connections have been more than noteworthy. But this is a nonprofit column, not astrological. See Deanna King’s insightful Astrology Happenings column. In my humble opinion, there simply is no more cogent explanation for the current madness.

The nitty-gritty – the Foundation already has a sizeable fund available for cancer patients’ needs and will no doubt be seeking more. Donors can either give to the general fund or choose a specific partner to support.

Checkout Healthcare Foundation’s website. It is full of information: www.mhfmoab.org. email Kari McKay with questions or concerns at info@mhfmoab.org and be sure to mention you read about the Moab Healthcare Foundation in Moab Happenings.





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