Aspirus takes full ownership of Medford hospital

MMA changes name to Fulcrum Foundation

Effective Friday, July 1, Aspirus took full ownership of Aspirus Medford Hospital (AMH) from partner Memorial Members Association (MMA).

As MMA shifts their purpose from a charitable membership organization into a charitable, non-member private foundation it comes with change, one being a new name. MMA will now be known as Fulcrum Foundation.

“Moving forward, as a new entity, Fulcrum Foundation has the opportunity to provide significantly more dollars to invest in community initiatives focusing on the betterment of the residents in the area,” said John Lange, Chairperson on the Fulcrum Foundation Board of Directors. “With more dollars comes opportunities for diversity in the volume and scale of projects considered and funded.”

Lange goes on to say, “The board is excited to invest in our area on a larger scale and with a broader scope. We anticipate many inquiries and are eager to hear the ideas that can help lead our towns, villages, and cities to an even better future for the residents. We believe that we can make a real difference with the help of everyone in our communities.”

The next few months will be an exciting time for Fulcrum Foundation as they establish their organization. The Vision and Purpose of the Fulcrum Foundation will continue to support the community’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and societal well-being determined by identified priorities and be a leading advocate for health improvement in the communities they serve for many years to come.

Over the years Aspirus has demonstrated its commitment to providing quality health care in the communities it serves. As a catalyst for creating healthy, thriving communities, Aspirus will continue the commitment to provide current services and locations with no interruptions in care. Aspirus also assures the community that they will faithfully continue to evaluate patient needs and the needs of the community to provide and enhance local access to robust care options at their Aspirus Medford Hospital and Clinic and surrounding satellite clinics in Athens, Gilman, Phillips, and Prentice. Aspirus’ continued commitment is to bring providers and staff into the communities they are serving to live the Aspirus mission of healing people, promoting health, and strengthening our communities.

“Aspirus has done an excellent job for over 20 years in helping us grow new services, improve our quality and outcomes, and become a significant community resource,” says Dale Hustedt, AMH President. “Our patients, staff and providers will not notice any change in the way the hospital and clinics operate as a result of this transition. From the Fulcrum Foundation perspective, this is a real win. Transferring ownership gives Fulcrum Foundation significantly more financial resources, which will allow them to support even more initiatives and projects in our communities.”

Continued close collaboration between AMH and Fulcrum Foundation will remain in place to continue with the community leadership when identifying opportunities and recognize what resources the community needs to address physical, emotional, intellectual, and societal needs. The partnership between AMH Community Health and Fulcrum Foundation will also continue to collaborate on projects that support identified community health issues. AMH and Fulcrum Foundation also continue to have mutual representation on their boards to keep an open dialogue about aligning community support and efforts as each organization moves forward.