Baptist Health Foundation has received two donations totaling more than $130,000 to fund coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing equipment for the Western Region.
An anonymous organization awarded $98,000 and the Fort Smith-based Good Neighbor Foundation, voluntarily funded by Baptist Health employees in the Western Region, donated $33,000 toward the Cepheid testing system.
“Our organizations have an important commonality, which is a strong commitment to our community. Vital partnerships, like these, will help Baptist Health continue to respond to the changing health needs of our state by providing innovative and quality care,” said Lena Moore, chief development officer of Baptist Health Foundation.
The Cepheid testing technology will allow Baptist Health-Fort Smith, Baptist Health-Van Buren and affiliated clinics in the region to detect COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in-house within the same day.
Cepheid has a history of responding quickly and working with global health organizations to help manage infectious disease outbreaks, such as the Ebola virus and 2009 H1N1 influenza.