Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation

Pioneers Assistance ProgramThe Pioneers Assistance Fund (PAF) provides financial assistance for health and welfare issues to people who work in theatrical entertainment. Assistance is provided on a sliding scale for people who have worked a minimum of five years in the industry up to people who have worked an entire career in the industry. The PAF is funded by restricted donations from entertainment industry companies, foundations and individuals who work in the theatrical entertainment industry. The 2022-23 fiscal year saw a further decline in the impacts of the pandemic, as the movie theater industry started to find a sense of equilibrium. People who have worked in theatrical entertainment for a minimum of five years are eligible to receive financial assistance and counseling due to accident, illness, natural disaster, financial hardship, and medical issues. PAF provided long-term type assistance to 13 clients due to quality-of-life issues. Short-term assistance was given to 907 clients primarily for medical rehabilitation, medical related equipment, vocational rehabilitation, housing insecurity and natural disaster relief. The total number of people who contacted PAF and received a minimum of counseling help was 1,073. Cancer continues to the primary reason for medical assistance. In 2022-23, the top three reasons for financial assistance are: 1. Accident/Natural Disaster relief 2. Rent and household financial hardship, and 3. Medical treatments and care. The age range for long-term assistance recipients is 62 - 93, with many of those receiving assistance between the ages 71 90. The short-term client ages are from 20-100 years of age, with the majority receiving financial assistance in the 20 - 40 age group.Social workers continue to find a sizable number of people seeking financial assistance are employed, but live under a very tight budget, due to many factors. One accident, illness or unforeseen incident can create a household crisis. PAF clients reflect the greater circumstance affecting middle-class workers in the USA, most are barely keeping up with financial demands of day-to-day life. The Pioneers Assistance Fund continued the effort to educate industry members through increased presence on social media, frequent email newsletters, and a new addition, the INNERMISSION webinar series aimed at maintaining overall health through video interviews with experts in fields of mental health and financial wellness. Due to the increased research findings on the importance of sleep, exercise, and meditation, all created content focuses on tips to achieving a healthy living lifestyle. Social workers are now screening for Depression, Suicidality, and a Needs Audit, which demonstrates to clients areas where their lives may need more attention. For more detailed information about the program, visit www.wrpioneers.org.

Brave Beginnings an initiative of the Will Rogers Institute In 2015, the Will Rogers Institute Neonatal Ventilator Equipment Program was officially renamed, Brave Beginnings (BB). Due to the large premature birth problem in the United States (the US has the sixth highest rate of premature births in the world, 10% of all births), hospitals have a tremendous need for additional equipment and modern equipment that will give a premature infant a fighting chance at a life without disease or a permanent disorder. Due to the Covid pandemic and demands placed on the Pioneers Assistance Fund program, no grants to hospitals were issued during 2020-21 fiscal year. While demands on the Pioneers Assistance Fund lessened in 2021-22 as compared to the previous year, the funding sources for the Brave Beginnings program have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The program was however in a position to fund a small grant cycle of $90,000 to two deserving hospitals. Since the ventilator grant program was established in 2006, 200 hospitals have received grants, totaling $9.6mil dollars, and an estimated 270,000 infants have benefitted. The overall objectives of the Brave Beginnings program to educate the public about the need and long-term benefits to helping premature infants develop without lifelong ailments, as well as provide hospital NICUs with vital equipment. Along with other individuals and organizations dedicated to fighting the preemie epidemic, the Brave Beginnings program will try to help eliminate a generation of children growing up with ailments and disorders, due to a premature birth. In 2021-22, the BB program continued to do outreach and communication to help the public understand the challenges neonatal intensive care units are managing and the high rate of premature births in the USA.

Will Rogers Institute Research & Fellowships The Will Rogers Institute (WRI) is a program that has roots dating back to when the charity operated the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. A primary objective of the hospital was to conduct research for patient care and train pulmonary doctors on how to provide the best care for their patients. While the significance of pulmonary health and rehabilitation is not new to the Will Rogers Institute, the global health pandemic has solidified its importance in the minds of people across the world. To date, the Will Rogers Institute has funded $49,180,177 in research grants, training fellowships, and special projects in the pulmonary sector. What began as a training program for medical research during the 1950s and 60s at the Will Rogers Hospital in upstate New York, lives on in present day through the work of the Will Rogers Institute. Today, the Will Rogers Institute funds the Will Rogers Institute Pulmonary Research Center at Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, and six fellowships across the United States. Directed by Dr. Edward Crandall, Hastings Professor of Medicine, the Will Rogers Institute Pulmonary Research Center at USC and its laboratory group have achieved major advances in research related to lung injury, pulmonary edema the abnormal buildup of fluid in the air spaces of the lungs and pulmonary fibrosis. In 2022-2023, the Will Rogers Institute Pulmonary Research Center produced one peer-reviewed research articles and five scientific abstracts. Training fellowships for pulmonary medicine continue at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital (White Plains, NY), New York University, University of Texas Medical School (Dallas, TX), Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Hospital (Knoxville, TN), and Cedars-Sinai Hospital and Research Center (Los Angeles, CA), and the continuation of a special Long-COVID study at Northwestern University. The objective for funding research fellowships in lung diseases at major universities throughout the United States is to help train future leaders of lung research and thoracic specialists.