Bill Littlejohn
Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Foundations of Sharp HealthCare
2024 Report on Giving
Envisioning Excellence
Together, we are envisioning the future of health care in San Diego.
A message of gratitude from Bill Littlejohn, senior vice president and chief executive officer
From groundbreakings to new clinic openings, we have made significant strides in bringing the latest in medical innovation to the San Diego community.
Together, we have grown from local community hospitals to the region’s largest health care provider, touching the lives of more than 1 million San Diegans a year. And we remain dedicated to our mission “to improve the health of the community with a commitment to excellence in all that we do.”
ENVISION: The Campaign for Sharp HealthCare is supporting our investment of $2 billion in the future of health care in San Diego. This past year saw numerous milestones in ENVISION, including the groundbreaking of Moore MountainView Hospice Home and the dedication of the Charney Heart & Lung Clinic at Sharp Memorial Hospital.
In 2024, you were among the 7,100+ generous donors who gave $38.1 million to the Foundations of Sharp HealthCare. Thank you for your compassionate support and commitment. To our board directors, leaders and thousands of volunteers, we are grateful for your service and all that you do to do support Sharp through philanthropy. We distributed $33.7 million for new facilities, technology, scholarships, research and innovative programs, all aligned with our four Aspirations of Excellence: to provide clinical and technical innovation; enhance knowledge and learning; create an extraordinary patient experience; and deliver this world-class care to every community.
With appreciation,
Your 2024 impact
Thanks to the compassion and generosity of donors like you, Sharp HealthCare continues to bring the best quality health care to the entire San Diego community.
Together, we make a meaningful difference
in contributions
generous donors
in assets
Our philanthropic impact
Your contributions help to build facilities, fund innovative programs and equip our expert caregivers with the medical technology that saves lives. The support of people like you makes it possible to carry out our mission to improve the health of our community.
Thanks to your generosity, our three foundations distributed $33.7 million to support the life-changing work happening at Sharp, including enhancements to our facilities, providing first-class brain and spine care for our patients, and expanding emergency care across the region.
Coronado Hospital Foundation
$1.5 million
Grossmont Hospital Foundation
$9.6 million
Sharp HealthCare Foundation
$22.6 million
Your gifts toward ENVISION: The Campaign for Sharp HealthCare, help us make a profound difference in the lives of all those who turn to us for care.
Joy Charney made a naming gift in memory of her late husband Jack and the extraordinary care he received at Sharp Memorial Hospital.
Milestones like the new comprehensive clinic include advanced heart and pulmonary programs to provide the latest technology and treatment options to the community.
Framed by four Aspirations of Excellence — innovation, learning, experience and community — ENVISION is making significant progress to transform health care in San Diego.
ENVISION campaign goal
total raised (fiscal year 2024)
campaign progress
Innovation
Dr. Vamsi Chavakula, director of functional neurosurgery at Sharp Grossmont Hospital.
Your generous support
drives the development of new technologies to advance the practice of medicine and delivery of care throughout the community.
New hope for those with essential tremor and Parkinson's
Through ENVISION, we look forward to spring 2025, when we open the first hospital in San Diego dedicated to caring for patients who need advanced brain and spine care in a single center of excellence.
The tremor in Sandy's arm that started 15 years ago prevents her from performing daily tasks. Could a new focused ultrasound procedure be the answer?
Sharp Grossmont Hospital now offers ground-breaking technology called MR-guided focused ultrasound to treat tremors caused by Parkinson’s and essential tremor — two conditions also known as movement disorders.
MR-guided focused ultrasound treatments are a one-time outpatient procedure, usually lasting between 90 minutes to 2 hours, after which patients can normally go home the same day. It is safe and minimally invasive, with no incision, providing a low risk of infection, and improvements are typically seen immediately.
"Patients are excited because for the first time in years, they can go to dinner and out to social settings and not be afraid of spilling cups of water or dropping their food. It's often an overwhelming and emotional experience for them, made possible by your support."
—Dr. Vamsi Chavakula, director of functional neurosurgery at Sharp Grossmont Hospital
Read more about how Sharp is at the forefront of innovation
Learning
Scholarship recipient Lesslie Camacho poses with Laurie Ecoff, PhD, RN, vice president of the Terrence and Barbara Caster Institute for Nursing Excellence at Sharp HealthCare.
Envisioning the health care of tomorrow
by supporting caregivers' lifelong learning to advance patient care.
Scholarships supporting future generations of nurses
Nurses Katy Green and Cathy McJannet, with over 70 years of combined experience at Sharp, have shown a deep passion for helping others. Their dedication led donors Dev Purkayastha and Wendy McGuire to name scholarships for Sharp Coronado Hospital employees in their honor.
Katy Green and Cathy McJannet are dedicated to helping nurses further their career.
“To make their lives a little bit easier means everything,” McJannet says. “I have been a nursing educator and director of nursing programs for a number of years, so I know the toll it takes on nursing students, especially financially.”
Coronado Hospital Foundation has awarded scholarships to 16 recipients since the first ceremony in July 2022, and six have already graduated.
See how philanthropy-funded scholarships transform the lives of our nurses
Angie Casillas
"Having such generous donors makes a difference. I'm thankful for people like them who allow us nurses to keep growing."
Gabriella Lococo
"Our donors care about the people that work here and support us through our journeys of gaining a higher education."
Samantha Beck
"The scholarship is about giving back and makes you want to pay it forward. It makes you want to help and spread positivity."
Experience
Thanks to a leadership gift from the Cushman Foundation and Lori Moore, RN, we will expand hospice care for our community.
Your generosity makes a difference
in the lives of our patients and their families, allowing us to bring together the science of medicine and the art of caring.
Transforming the hospice experience in San Diego
At Sharp HospiceCare, we are committed to offering more than end-of-life support. Our unique, home-like residences are dedicated to our patients and their families to ensure the best possible quality of life.
That is why our fourth hospice home, Moore MountainView, will provide a peaceful environment, paired with skilled and compassionate care, for when it matters most.
1 of 4 :
Moore MountainView Hospice Home will treasure the sanctity of life and preserve patients' dignity.
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For Angie Mendoza, supporting Moore MountainView represents the impact hospice care had on her family's life.
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Moore MountainView will feature six private rooms where family members will be invited to stay the night and pets can visit.
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Moore MountainView will feature a garden area with picturesque landscaping that will accommodate both family gatherings and quiet contemplation.
“The anticipatory guidance families get and the little things — a cup of coffee, a glass of water, the doctor’s personal cell phone number — those are the most valuable experiences we could have," says Angie Mendoza, a Sharp HospiceCare donor who gives in honor of her late husband, Nick. "It is a cherished memory knowing the people that were helping us were amazing.”
Moore MountainView, which is scheduled to open in Poway in early 2025, will be a place where the sanctity of life is treasured and dignity is preserved, with staff dedicated to making the final phase of a person's life, alongside their loved ones, as comfortable and peaceful as possible.
“Sharp HospiceCare continues to grow to meet the needs of our community because of donor support. It's humbling to stand together as we open Moore MountainView later this year and once again be there for our patients and their families when they need us the most.”
—Kate Wayne, vice president for philanthropy, Sharp Regional Hospitals
Event snapshot
By supporting our seven special events, you contributed nearly $4 million in gross revenue toward construction projects at our hospitals, cardiac technology and life-saving services.
39th Annual Sharp Allison deRose Poker Tournament
Sharp HealthCare Foundation and the Survivors Rehabilitation Fund (SRF) support traumatic brain injury survivors.
21st Annual Sharp HospiceCare Dinner and Regatta
Grossmont Hospital Foundation's record-breaking regatta supports construction at Moore MountainView Hospice Home.
14th Annual Coronado Hospital Foundation Golf Tournament
Coronado Hospital Foundation funds The Campaign for Emergency and Intensive Care at Sharp Coronado Hospital.
38th Annual Grossmont Hospital Foundation Gala
Grossmont Hospital Foundation's annual gala goes toward construction at Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Neuroscience.
Community
Sharp is San Diego's largest private and most comprehensive health care provider for behavioral health services.
Your thoughtful giving
brings the best of health care to the people of every community, touching the lives of those closest to your heart.
Expanding behavioral health services with a meaningful gift
Price Philanthropies Foundation awarded $7 million in grants toward behavioral health initiatives at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital and Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, the largest combined behavioral health-related grant in Sharp’s history.
This transformational grant was the capstone of our philanthropic commitment to modernize and expand the Shiley Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Sharp Mesa Vista. Whether our patients need short-term crisis intervention or have acute episodes of ongoing mental illness, they receive comprehensive treatment in surroundings that promote healing and comfort in a safe, nurturing and homelike hospital environment.
New artwork lines the hallways of the Shiley Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital.
The grant will also fund part of the transformation of the Sharp Chula Vista Emergency Department, helping manage the increase in patient volume as well as provide special spaces for individuals with a behavioral health diagnosis.
Sharp Chula Vista is opening an exclusive treatment unit inside the emergency department for those experiencing a mental health crisis where individuals will receive specialized care in a calm and therapeutic setting separate from other patients.
The new Emergency Psychiatric Assessment Treatment and Healing (EmPATH) unit at Sharp Chula Vista will feature six recliners in lieu of traditional patient beds, open space for patients to move around and 24/7 staffing by caregivers specifically trained to treat psychiatric emergencies.
"Because of the generosity of organizations like Price Philanthropies and many other donors, Sharp can continue to serve San Diego as the largest private and most comprehensive health care provider for behavioral health services."
—Bill Littlejohn, senior vice president and chief executive officer, Foundations of Sharp HealthCare