Community initiatives
Empowering communities to improve heart health
In 2025, HCA Healthcare and the Foundation announced $3.9 million in support as part of our ongoing collaboration with the American Heart Association to help better treat, beat and prevent stroke. Since 2022, hospitals that have participated in the Getting to the Heart of Stroke™ initiative have significantly improved identification of the cause of stroke by 33%. This was achieved through care team collaboration, best practice-sharing and increased utilization of evidence-based diagnostic testing.
Together, we are working to foster cardiovascular health, prevent stroke and improve patient outcomes by increasing cardiology and neurology collaboration, deploying evidence-based education and interventions, and identifying and minimizing health disparities.
Conference
Getting to the Heart of Stroke™ milestones in 2025
200M+
individuals reached with evidence-informed education on AFib and stroke risk
160+
community organizations engaged through intervention programs about blood pressure management, nutrition and maternal health
$3.9M
in additional funding and support announced by HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation
Equipping students and schools for long-term success
Educate Texas
In 2025, the HCA Healthcare Foundation announced a new $1 million grant to enhance its work with Educate Texas, an initiative of Communities Foundation of Texas. Building on three years of success, this new grant will help Educate Texas equip school districts across the state with the resources to strengthen program quality, deepen industry partnerships, and enhance career pathway support for students pursuing healthcare professions. The initiative will focus on increasing the number of high school students earning healthcare-related degrees and credentials.
Since the Foundation’s $1.35 million grant to Educate Texas in 2022, the organization has seen an expansion of healthcare career pathways in school districts across the Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Houston regions — growing the number of schools offering healthcare career pathways from 20 to 104, and enrolling nearly 10,000 high school students in programs to prepare them for in-demand healthcare roles.
Consortium of Florida
Education Foundations (CFEF)
The HCA Healthcare Foundation gave a $1 million grant in 2024 to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations to fund its ‘Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida’ program which aims to help create and expand healthcare career pathways for high school students across the state of Florida. The program will fund 15 local education foundations in Florida over three years, focusing on activities that include work-based learning, healthcare career exploration activities and industry certifications.
In the first year of CFEF’s Career Pathways to a Healthier Florida program, 230 Marion County high school health academy students earned CPR certifications, supported by the HCA Healthcare Foundation’s $1 million grant through the Healthier Tomorrow Fund. Four certification events were hosted at Marion Technical College to serve students from four high schools, with nurses from HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and local EMS providing the training.
CFEF’s Career Pathways to a
Healthier Florida milestones:
42%
increase in healthcare
academy enrollment
1,767
certifications earned, already exceeding
multi-year goals
96%
of surveyed students expressed an increased
interest in healthcare careers
*Data from June 2024 to July 2025
(Left to right): Emma LaFaver, Music Therapist, HCA HealthONE Mental Health and Wellness Center; Oleg Lytkin, Senior IT Director, HCA HealthONE Aurora
Delivering mental wellness education to K-12 schools in partnership with EVERFI
Supported by HCA Healthcare and powered by EVERFI, the Understanding Mental Wellness digital course equips students with tools for promoting mental well-being.
Our partnership with EVERFI, an international technology company driving social change through education, began in 2020. This collaboration has helped us reach more than 300,000 students and 3,800 teachers across all our divisions with education through Understanding Mental Wellness. The course is designed to help students implement coping strategies to manage their stress as they navigate life’s challenging experiences. 81% of students who participated in Understanding Mental Wellness in 2025 say the course helped them understand how to deal with stress in a positive way — while 75% say they now know how to talk to their friends and support circle about mental health problems.
Our facilities, behavioral health experts and colleagues work to deepen this impact through engagement opportunities with local schools, teaching students elements of expressive therapy, empathy and support of one another and even future readiness.
Championing the overall health
and well-being for families
March of Dimes
For more than a decade, HCA Healthcare has partnered with March of Dimes in communities nationwide — through volunteerism and team based fundraising — to foster community connection and advance shared goals for healthier pregnancies and stronger beginnings for all families. In 2022, HCA Healthcare deepened this commitment by becoming a national partner for March for Babies, March of Dimes’ signature fundraising campaign. HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Research Institute curate highquality maternal and neonatal data from more than 200,000 annual deliveries across our network of hospitals as part of our efforts to learn from and continually improve patient outcomes.
In 2025, we deepened our support of March of Dimes’ “Low Dose, Big Benefits” campaign through a new $1.5 million grant from the HCA Healthcare Foundation. “Low Dose, Big Benefits” is an initiative raising awareness about the effectiveness of taking low dose aspirin to reduce the risks of preeclampsia and preterm birth. We supported this work by sharing educational content on social media and providing our clinical subject matter experts on March of Dimes live webinars and panel discussions.
“Low Dose, Big Benefits” aims to prevent preeclampsia threat in at-risk pregnancies through comprehensive provider education, patient and community awareness, and a quality improvement plan in Federally Qualified Health Centers to better identify health risks and support the appropriate use of low-dose aspirin.
“The Low Dose, Big Benefits campaign is evidence-based and community-care focused, a winning combination when it comes to improving maternal health outcomes. By collaborating on this initiative and engaging clinicians and communities, we are confident we can achieve our goals of generating greater awareness and reaching a better understanding of how, when and why early-in-pregnancy preventive approaches are able to improve maternal care.”
Dr. Kjersti Aagaard,
HCA Houston Healthcare, Texas Maternal Fetal Medicine
2025 Healthy Food for
Healthier Tomorrows
Food and Nutrition Drive
1.1M
meals were donated across 13 divisions
These meals provided to families in
need came from a variety of generous contributions including:
84,697
meals donated directly by colleagues
193,632
meals funded through colleague charitable donations
883,779
meals made possible by HCA Healthcare hospitals and divisions
$170,000
in grants from the HCA Healthcare Foundation
United for Healthy Starts, with United Way
HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation have a long history of working with and supporting the United Way. Through the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, the HCA Healthcare Foundation announced a $1.84 million grant for United Way to help organize and launch United for Healthy Starts, an effort aimed at helping families access resources to improve their social, economic and overall health outcomes. The work is piloted by Mile High United Way in Denver, in collaboration with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, United Way Miami and United Way of Greater Nashville.
Supporting food security
As part of HCA Healthcare’s ongoing commitment to improving food access in the communities we serve, hospitals across our network host food and nutrition drives to support local families in need. These efforts play part of a larger initiative to combat food insecurity — an issue that affects millions of Americans every day.
According to Feeding America, food insecurity affects nearly 50 million people in the U.S. each year. Beyond those officially classified as food insecure, millions more depend on food banks, pantries and community organizations to access affordable, nutritious food for their families.
Through colleague donations, nutrition security is a part of how we help our patients and communities take steps toward a healthier tomorrow. In 2025, HCA Healthcare colleagues supported more than 20,000 food-focused nonprofits with more than $383 million in donations and matching gifts, helping improve access to healthy 193,632 meals funded through colleague charitable donations food in our communities.
Through the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, $550,000 was given to 22 food security-focused organizations across the communities we serve. Additionally, through national grants with the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, the Healthier Tomorrow Fund brings nutritional interventions to prevent and support health related conditions.
Beyond the Middle Tennessee Fund’s annual investments in basic needs and education organizations supporting food access, $635,000 in community response funding was directed to 28 food security-focused organizations uniquely equipped to ensure all families have access to nutritious, healthy food.
Strategic partnerships with colleges and universities
Our strategic partnership investments include partnerships working to strengthen workforce development by expanding talent pipelines and preparing future healthcare professionals to serve our communities.
HCA Healthcare has partnerships with higher educational institutions across our footprint to provide opportunities for future healthcare leaders.
Beyond our financial investment, HCA Healthcare engages with these schools to provide meaningful programming, career planning support, mentorship and internship opportunities.
- In 2025, our engagement with higher education partners touched 2,200+ through nearly 60 recruiting events, career preparation sessions and leadership workshops.
- HCA Healthcare has hired nearly 1,000 graduates from education partnership institutions since 2021.
What stands out most to me about my externship at HCA Healthcare is the people. The right individuals are in place to guide, support, and develop future social workers. I am deeply grateful to be learning in such a nurturing and professional environment.
Keya Jest,
BSW, Master of Social Work (MSW) Candidate, Class of 2026
Savannah State University
HCA Healthcare’s partnership with Savannah State University’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program was designed to help students stay on track academically, gain real-world experience and transition into careers in a field where demand is especially high. Through providing access to externships, career coaching and employment pathways, HCA Healthcare quickly became a bridge between study and practice.
In just over a year of the partnership, 16 MSW scholars have received support through scholarships, 10 students have completed externships and 10 graduates have been hired into full-time HCA Healthcare roles.
By helping students transition into sustainable careers, the program aims to transform individual futures, while also strengthening communities by training more providers to meet growing case management needs.
HCA Healthcare has 11 total partnerships with higher educational institutions across our footprint to provide opportunities for future healthcare leaders.
Jamia Lewis became the first HCA Healthcare scholar graduate of the Fisk University/Galen College of Nursing partnership, earning her BSN. She received the Dr. Tracy Ortelli Leadership in Nursing Award and started her career in the trauma unit at TriStar Skyline Medical Center.
Strengthening the healthcare talent pipeline
In May 2025, the first cohort of students supported by HCA Healthcare through the Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr. Institute at Tennessee State University reached a major milestone. Thirteen scholars completed their undergraduate studies and are now stepping into the next phase of their healthcare careers.
Among this group, 12 students have already been accepted into Meharry Medical College’s School of Medicine, and one is enrolled in the New York Institute of Technology’s Biomedical Sciences Master of Sciences program.
This support has transformed the pathway from undergraduate education to medical, dental and physician assistant programs.
Crush the Crisis
On Oct. 25, 2025, HCA Healthcare hosted our seventh annual Crush the Crisis Prescription Drug Take Back Day, aligning with the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. This enterprise-wide event once again brought our colleagues, law enforcement partners and community members together across all 15 of our U.S. divisions and more than 150 collection sites to combat the dangers of prescription drug misuse through safe, anonymous disposal of medications.
This year, we collected 19,846 pounds, approximately 13.6 million doses, of unused and expired medications — pushing us past the 100,000-pound milestone since Crush the Crisis launched in 2019. Reaching 108,500 pounds of safely disposed medication underscores the scale and impact of this effort to prevent prescription drug misuse.