Avera Health has received a $5 million donation from a donor who wants to remain anonymous.

“We worked with a generous donor who wanted to make a significant investment to improve patient care and safety through current projects, while also benefiting individuals and families for the long-term,” Avera CEO Bob Sutton said in a statement.

“We are thrilled that this donor chose to invest in Avera. We worked closely with this donor to ensure that dollars are stewarded toward those projects identified as priority areas for both the donor and the health system.”

The donor requested that $1 million of the donation be designated as a matching gift to support Avera’s Coordinated Care program, which helps patients – including those employed by Avera – overcome barriers to better health.

Coordinated Care teams specialize in seeing trends and patterns that predict rising risk, and initiating or redirecting care.

“We are reminded that Jesus himself walks through our hospital doors every day. When we care for the least of his people, we care for him,” Sutton said. “It’s not enough to let the poor, the sick and the hungry seek us out, we must go into our communities and begin the healing process in their homes, for it is in doing this that we find Jesus.”

The donor also wanted to support security assessments and updates at facilities across the system. Enhancing security contributes to a more positive healing environment for patients and more positive work environment for employees.

The donor requested part of the donation be used to support the effort to unify all philanthropic efforts across Avera.

“A gift like this only serves to strengthen our philanthropic efforts and fulfill the ‘one Avera’ promise to donors, patients and families,” Sutton said. “We’re incredibly grateful.”

Some of the other projects impacted by the gift include:

• The Farm and Rural Stress Hotline
• Investing in employees through appreciation
• Various projects that enhance the patient and employee experience