Beyond the bedside, Temple University Hospital and our staff continually show how deeply they care about our neighbors.

• In 1968, we established a certification program for family health workers through Temple University’s Comprehensive Health Services program. Much like the community health workers we certify today in the Temple Center for Population Health, these paraprofessionals extended TUH’s arm into the community, providing care and social work duties in patients’ homes. In 1987, we launched an entire department dedicated to community health education.
• When nearby Zion Baptist Church burnt down in 1970, TUH employees ran a fundraising drive for their neighbors. A hospital employee who managed a band called the Chesterfields put on a concert to benefit the church. Temple got involved again in 1978, when Triumph Baptist Church suffered a similar fate.
• In 1954, half the hospital’s patients received charity care. Last year TUH, Pennsylvania’s key safety-net provider, provided more than $39 million in net charity and under-reimbursed care for our vulnerable communities.
• Philadelphia Magazine named the safe-sleep bassinet “Baby Box,” part of TUH’s SAFE-T Sleep Program (Sleep Awareness Family Education at Temple), one of the Biggest Ideas of 2016. Baby Boxes are being given to all women who deliver babies at TUH, with the goal of promoting safe sleep practices and reducing infant mortality in the greater Philadelphia area. The program earned worldwide media attention and inquiries from other hospitals wanting to follow in our footsteps.

• In response to our community's needs, TUH also serves as home base for several programs addressing violence:
  • Cradle to Grave, violence prevention program for at-risk youth who experience the potential effects of gun violence through a two-hour educational program including the story of Lamont, a young victim of violence in this community.
  • The Safe Bet Program, distribution of free gun locks—no questions asked— in partnership with the City of Philadelphia and the Police Department, with the goal of preventing accidental deaths among children.
  • Turning Point, which counsels and assists victims of gunshot wounds to utilize the experience as a true “turning point” in their lives in support of positive changes and eschewing retaliation.
  • Fighting Chance, which teaches community members in high-violence neighborhoods how to administer immediate first aid to victims of penetrating trauma until first responders arrive, in the hopes of increasing the chances of survival.
• Temple staff constantly give their time, money and spirit to causes too numerous to name. Here are just a few:
  • The United Way
  • The American Heart Association
  • The American Diabetes Association
  • The American Cancer Society
  • The American Red Cross
  • The Build-A-Meal and Adopt-a-Patient drives, which provide food and holiday cheer for those in need during the holidays