Be Excellent to Each Other: Our Customers, Our Employees, Our Families, Our Communities, Ourselves
In 2008, Advantage RN's Mission Statement expanded to include COMMUNITY as another entity the company would like to be excellent to. It’s a logical addition.
Since our inception in 2003, Advantage RN has experienced tremendous growth despite keen competition and an industry of marginal expansion. We’ve made it through JCAHO certification and the other many challenges that come with quickly going from a start up to a company with annual
revenues of over $50 million. We’re at a point where we can look ahead to the differences we can make, rather than second guess the decisions we’ve made. By being good to our employees, our customers, our extended Advantage RN families and ourselves, we have grown to be a well-respected company in the travel nurse arena.
It’s time give back. Since we are working in an industry that truly makes a difference in the lives of others, we felt it was time to do the same.
We've chosen three organizations close to our hearts to make
financial contributions
to in 2008. Here is a little more about each one:
Make- A-Wish Foundation of Ohio
If you could make a wish…what would it be?
That is the exact question the Make-A-Wish Foundation asks children with life threatening medical conditions. The Foundation not only asks the question, but delivers the magic: since its 1984 beginnings, the Ohio Foundation has granted over 6300 wishes to children all over Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
Advantage RN’s donation supported Make-A-Wish’s annual Walk-A-Thon and more importantly paid for Tracey’s wish – a trip to Disney World. Five-year-old Tracey was three when he was diagnosed with Sickle Cell disease. At the age of four he endured a bone marrow transplant (compliments of his brother – a perfect match) to help battle the disease. The energetic, happy little boy got a brief reprieve from hospitals and doctor visits during his weeklong Disney World adventure with his family. Tracey is now in remission.
Tracey was this year’s honorary Wish Child at the Walk-A-Thon event that took place in Columbus on August 16, 2008. A good time was had by all participants who enjoyed the food, entertainment and the casual walk with Tracey and other Make-A-Wish donors and participants. All of us at Advantage RN wish Tracey and his family a lifetime of good fortune and health.
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| Matt Price (pictured on the right) welcomed Tracey (pictured second from right) and
his brother
LaShaun,
mother Denise,
his aunt and
baby
cousin, and Make-A-Wish
Executive Director Tim McCarthy to a picnic lunch at Advantage RN’s headquarters in August. |
Tracey (in the green shirt) and his family, along with Matt Price and some local Columbus newscasters, get ready to begin the Walk-A-Thon with 600
participants. |
Culture Works of Dayton
Culture Works is the united arts fund and arts service agency for the Greater Dayton, Ohio region. The organization provides the single largest source of public funding for the arts. Creating and maintaining a vibrant and attractive community filled with quality arts brings measurable and immeasurable value to the community.
Culture Works is proud to be the largest provider of general operating support for the many non-profit arts organizations operating in Greater Dayton. The organization partners with corporations, foundations and individuals to secure a flourishing, creative environment for area residents of all ages and backgrounds.
From its nationally and internationally renowned DCDC Contemporary Dance Company to its Philharmonic Orchestra, Muse Machine (a premier arts education program benefiting tens-of-thousands of young people each year) and K12 Gallery for Young Artists to the dozens of other arts-related organizations, Culture Works of Dayton enriches the lives of many both in this region and beyond.
President and CEO of Advantage RN Matt Price is a new Board member of the organization.
"The local arts enhance the attractiveness of Dayton and their educational outreach programs provide inspiration to thousands of children," says Price.
"Having grown up here I’ve seen the positive effect it has had on the community, and I’m happy to be a part of it."
To read Culture Works' article on Advantage RN,
click
here.
Aqua Viva Children’s Home
Nearly 75% of Guatemala’s 12 million residents live in poverty. Many Guatemalan children never attend school because they must work to help support their families – usually on the streets, in the fields, or in factories. No social programs exist to rescue at-risk children or to support poor families.
Two Advantage RN employees traveled to Guatemala in the summer of 2008 to volunteer to work at Agua Viva Children’s Home, located in the mountains above Guatemala City. The two were part of a group of 28 who worked at the school that offers a safe haven for about 80 children from the ages of 1.5 – 18. The group helped with some construction projects on site as well as with other activities needed by the school. They also spent plenty of time with the children.
The group was so inspired by the children and the way each child embraced life and their newest visitors -- especially given their circumstances. They approached their school work and extracurricular activities with open and enthusiastic hearts.
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| Little Sophie, born in Guatemala,
is now home in America with her new Advantage RN family. |
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| In Guatemala we learned that those with so little have the ability to give us so much. |
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