The LSU Health Shreveport Foundation organized its annual fundraising event, An Evening for Healers, on Thursday, August 31 in Shreveport, Louisiana. This event has been a platform for honoring and celebrating the first responders, physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, and other healthcare providers in the Shreveport-Bossier community. These individuals played a crucial role in saving the lives of patients at Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport, the only Level 1 Trauma Center in North Louisiana. Additionally, the event raises essential funding for LSU Health Shreveport.
Over the past 12 years, An Evening for Healers has shared 26 patient stories, honored over 850 first responders and healthcare heroes, and raised more than $4 million for LSU Health Shreveport. This year, the foundation achieved a record-breaking fundraising effort, with over $550,000 raised from more than 100 sponsors. The funds will support the recruitment and retention of top faculty, acquisition of state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and programs for students across all three LSUHS schools.
More than 900 guests attended the event and were the first to watch the CRM Studios produced documentaries featuring inspiring stories of patients saved by their team of healers. The featured patients this year were Lynette Moye, from Longview, Texas, who lost her hearing due to meningitis and received specialized care at OLHS, and Evie Hilburn, a West Monroe teenager who endured a spinal cord injury after an ATV accident. Both patients expressed their gratitude towards their team of healers for giving them a second chance at life.
In addition to celebrating patients who were given a second chance, the event also acknowledged healthcare professionals who have experienced the loss of a patient. Stories were shared to address the mental health crisis faced by teenagers.
Dr. David S. Guzick, LSU Health Shreveport’s new Chancellor, delivered the keynote speech. Dr. Guzick, a reproductive endocrinologist and academic health center leader, assumed the role of Chancellor in January. He is the only active physician in Louisiana who is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Previously, he served as the dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and the University of Florida’s senior vice president for health affairs and president of UF Health.
An Evening for Healers was presented by Ochsner Health, who partnered with LSU Health Shreveport in 2018 to form Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport. This year marks their fifth anniversary of collaboration with the goal of improving community health and well-being, enhancing access to care and facilities, expanding patient-centered technology, growing the medical school, and advancing research in North Louisiana.
Kevin Flood, President and CEO of the LSU Health Shreveport Foundation, expressed gratitude for the community’s generous support for An Evening for Healers. Flood also thanked Ochsner Health for their ongoing philanthropic support and all the sponsors who contribute to maintaining LSU Health Shreveport’s position as an integral part of the community’s healthcare infrastructure.