In the fourth quarter of 2022, thanks to the community’s support, Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation granted your not-for-profit hospitals $1.6 million in support of 14 programs and three capital projects. Please refer to the following descriptions highlighting key grants supported in the fourth quarter:

Angel Eye NICU View System at Mease Countryside
While most pregnancies end with a healthy baby, about 10% of neonates require special care in the NICU, which can cause high levels of anxiety for their families. The Angel Eye system allows families the ability to see their infants, receive communication updates, and view educational materials on any device with internet. This technology gives families 24/7 access to view their babies in the NICU to allow families to feel like an integral part of their baby’s care team.

Family Medicine Residency Program 
The Family Medicine Residency Program provides physician education and clinical training for 24 residents of the USF Morsani College of Medicine. Additionally, the Residency, in conjunction with operations of the Turley Family Health Center, will support 42,000 patient visits per year, as well as Laboratory, Imaging and Social Services. Grant dollars fund clinic operations, physician staffing, residency administration and facility expense.

Nursing Education and Engagement
Philanthropy helps our hospitals attract, reward, recognize and retain talented nurses, provide them the tools to enhance their learning, offer professional development programs, certification courses, research projects, and helps to distinguish our nurses as leaders. Thanks to our community, Morton Plant Mease team members currently enrolled in a nursing program have many options for scholarships, including the Dr. Morris Earn As You Learn Program.

Palliative Care Program
Palliative Care is an interdisciplinary medical specialty that focuses on preventing and relieving suffering and on supporting the best possible quality of life for patients and their families facing serious illness. The pandemic has highlighted the importance and relevance of our services, as our palliative teams have filled gaps left by isolation, restrictive visitation, masked caregivers all in the midst of an illness, which we are still trying to understand.

Physiological Monitors for NICU
The physiologic monitors in Mease Countryside Hospital’s Level III NICU provide essential information to the care team on the status of our infants receiving critical care. Using this information, the clinical staff can better evaluate a patient’s condition and make appropriate treatment decisions. Thanks to funding from our Skip Cline Society, these new monitors and system are quieter and feature improved alarm management.

Morton Plant North Bay Hospital’s Holiday Lights Toys
Morton Plant North Bay Hospital held its annual Holiday Lights celebration in December to help celebrate the community’s longstanding partnership with the only not-for-profit hospital in west Pasco county. Grant dollars helped fund toys to ensure every child in attendance received a toy for the holidays at the annual community holiday lights event, which returned back to being an in-person event.

To learn more about the projects funded by your community investments at the not-for-profit hospitals of Morton Plant Mease, please contact Eric Barsema, Director of Community Impact, at (727) 461-8647 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..