JCF Foundation Builds Support for Local Healthcare

Closer coordination with the healthcare district will support fundraising as plans for a new hospital move forward.

A ventilator, an infant warmer, wheelchairs and scholarships may serve different needs, but each represents a way community donations can support healthcare close to home.

For the JCF Hospital Foundation, those contributions are part of a growing role alongside John C. Fremont Healthcare District. Now, the foundation and district are strengthening their working relationship as the district advances its new hospital project.

Under the new arrangement, Foundation Executive Administrator Miranda Wass will become a district employee, continuing to provide administrative and operational support to the foundation as part of her duties.

The foundation will remain a separate nonprofit, retaining its own board of directors, financial accounts, charitable assets and fundraising activities. The change is intended to better coordinate community engagement, philanthropy and district priorities.

“This is less about a change in position and more about the natural evolution of the partnership between the Foundation and the District,” Wass said. “The Foundation has grown because our community continues to show us how much local healthcare matters to them.”

Founded in 1980, the foundation brings together donors, volunteers, businesses, employees and community partners to support the district. Its contributions have included medical equipment, patient-care improvements, scholarships and workforce development.

Recent support has helped provide a Hamilton T1 ventilator, seven smart IV pumps, a hospital bed, an infant warmer, wheelchairs, defibrillators and an Arjo sit-to-stand lift, according to the foundation. Its employee scholarship program also helps invest in the people delivering local care.

That work has expanded following a period of rebuilding.

After the pandemic interrupted activities and board membership declined, former foundation member Heather Bernikoff returned to the board. Remaining members elected her president, and she began rebuilding the organization with new and returning members in summer 2022.

In April 2025, the foundation hired Wass as its first staff administrator on a part-time contract basis. Bernikoff credits that administrative support with helping the volunteer board take on more work and pursue activities it had long wanted to accomplish.

The closer relationship also returns to an earlier model. For much of its history, the foundation had space on the healthcare district’s campus and benefited from informal staff assistance and shared resources.

With a new hospital ahead, Bernikoff said that coordination will become increasingly important.

“In addition to the new building, new furniture, equipment, and a variety of other things will be needed, which are not funded by the sales tax or other means,” she said.

The foundation sees its fundraising and donor relationships as an important part of meeting those needs. Its continued independence will allow the board to oversee charitable resources while working more closely with the district on priorities.

For residents, the foundation offers several ways to participate, from volunteering to making a donation or learning more about current projects. Those efforts support both the equipment used in patient care and the healthcare workforce serving the community.

Information about volunteering, donations and the foundation’s work is available at jcfhospitalfoundation.org or by emailing admin@jcfhospitalfoundation.org.

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