Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation (BI Cares) is on a mission to improve lives around the world. We do this by focusing on providing medicines to those in need—wherever they may be—and by supporting innovative programs that help ensure the health of individuals and communities in this and future generations.
$1,125,000,000
The amount the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation has donated in medicines over its eleven-year history through its Patient Assistance and Product Donation Programs.
As a company, our mission is to research, develop, and manufacture innovative medicines to improve lives. As a citizen of our country and the world, our mission is to help make these medicines available to people in need. Boehringer Ingelheim, through such BI Cares initiatives as the Patient Assistant Program and Product Donation Program, does exactly that by donating essential medicines and services to underserved patients and communities around the world.
The frequency and destructive power of tornadoes in the American Midwest and Southeast only seem to increase in frequency and destructive power each year. When major tornadoes touch down, our nonprofit disaster relief partner, AmeriCares, gets busy assessing the damage and providing relief. Through them, BI Cares donates essential medicines to affected patients.
The same holds true when other natural disasters strike, such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires. In the face of trauma and great loss, AmeriCares and BI Cares together make a vital impact on the lives of individuals, families and communities.
The partners provide medicines to patients with unmet medical need outside of disaster relief as well.
Photo Courtesy of MAP International
They’re called Travel Packs: two 1.5-cubic-feet boxes, weighing a combined total of 50-60 pounds and containing medical products designed to reach medical mission teams in areas where a single aspirin can be an out-of-reach luxury. Produced by disaster-relief partner MAP International, the Travel Packs are a part of Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation’s Product Donation Program. But as one real-life journey demonstrates, the Travel Packs represent so much more than a box filled with “supplies.”
As part of a mission trip to the village of Awomberew in the African nation of Ghana, BI employee Heidi was in charge of making sure that the MAP International Travel Pack got to its destination. “When we opened the Travel Pack to set up for the clinic, we looked at the doses of oral rehydration salts and thought that they wouldn’t be used,” recalled Heidi.
Photo Courtesy of MAP International
700
Number of
treatments made
possible by each
Travel Pack
115
Number of
countries that have
benefited from the
Travel Packs
“One morning, however, the very first patient was an elderly woman who had been carried there on her not-young daughter’s back. The woman was lethargic, too weak to sit up and had a blood pressure of 65 over 35 mmHg with a temperature of 101°F. Everyone thought she would die that day. We treated her with the salts, carried her to a cot so she could rest, and within hours she was able to walk home. She walked back the next day for a follow up, with a blood pressure of 120 over 82 mmHg.”
Heidi, who works in the Ridgefield BI office, has been to Awomberew three times since 2006. Why does she make such a long, arduous trip? “It changes you. Over time, you move beyond the poverty and build relationships. And it makes you question what is truly important in your own life,” she explains.
“I can’t thank you enough for helping me out again this year…Without your generosity, I would have a difficult time paying for my medication. Thank you!”
The BI Cares Foundation Patient Assistance Program provides select pharmaceutical products free of charge to eligible U.S. patients, including senior citizens and families on limited incomes.
“Thank you, thank you so much. You folks are lifesavers. I really appreciate your charity, your kindness, your consideration. Without your gift, I’d be lost. Thank you.”
Unsolicited letters with comments like these tell us that our Patient Assistance Program is helping us achieve our mission of providing more health to more patients in need.
“Your Foundation is a wonderful benefit to qualified persons like me. I wish to sincerely THANK YOU for your assistance. My gratitude is beyond words.”
In 2011, more than 63,000 eligible patients received our medicine through the program.
“Since I was disabled due to my health problems, I have not been able to afford my meds, and again, I appreciate what you have done.”
BI Cares is committed to strengthening this important program. After all, we want to keep getting letters like this:
“Just had to say ‘Thank You’ and ‘God Bless.’ I can breathe so much better with my meds! You all just don’t know how much it means. Someone does care.”
In some underdeveloped countries, women who experience prolonged childbirth may sustain injuries to their birth canal and nervous system that lead to lifelong ambulatory problems and urinary incontinence. This condition is known as Fistula. Due to the associated stigma and misperceptions about the condition, these women are often ostracized from their communities.
The Fistula Foundation, with support from Direct Relief International and the United Nations Family Planning Agency (UNFPA), delivers surgical services and counseling programs to help injured women recover from the trauma of obstetric fistula and be integrated back into their communities.
BI Cares is there, too, through its donations of medicines to surgical centers in Kenya and Somalia. The result: better care for women and stronger families and communities.
500,000
Number of patients who have
benefited from the Patient
Assistance Program over the
Foundation’s history.
Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation has donated $1.125 billion in medicines over its eleven-year history through its Patient Assistance and Product Donation Programs. The Patient Assistance Program has given uninsured and underinsured U.S. patients more than $651 million in medicines, while the Product Donation Program has provided more than $474 million in medicines to underserved patients in the U.S. and around the world.
Countries where product donations have been made.
$474,000,000
The Product Donation
Program has provided over
$474 million in medicines to
underserved patients in the
U.S. and around the world.
BI Cares supports the Connecticut Mission of Mercy clinic, which provides free dental care to the underserved and uninsured in Connecticut. Oral health is connected to overall health and can impact a person’s quality of life and self-esteem.
In “Thoughts of a Free Thinker,” Kurt Vonnegut’s commencement address at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1974, Vonnegut wrote, “… the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” At Boehringer Ingelheim, we believe that it’s not just daring, but also an important responsibility to become active in the fabric of the communities in which we live and work. That’s why we work closely with our local partners to create and sustain programs that bring people together and make more health for them and their communities.
1,088
The number of Community Programs
Boehringer has supported over the years.
$21,000,000
Value of program support to strengthen local communities.
While roughhousing with his brother, 21-year-old Frederico felt the knee pain that had been bothering him for more than a year suddenly become unbearable. As Frederico had no health insurance, a friend searched the Internet and found the Boehringer Ingelheim AmeriCares Free Clinic in Danbury, Connecticut, which provides quality healthcare for the uninsured. On his first visit there, the staff saw the large mass on his leg and immediately referred him to Danbury Hospital for an MRI scan. The results: a tumor that was destroying bone and muscle in his leg. Frederico, shocked and scared, turned again to the clinic, which arranged an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon at Yale New Haven Hospital. Surgery quickly followed along with some good news: The tumor was a rare but aggressive non-cancerous growth that afflicts one person per million per year. Following extensive physical therapy facilitated through the clinic and Danbury Hospital, Frederico’s mobility has been restored.“I don’t know what could have happened if I didn’t find AmeriCares,” Frederico said standing on his two legs, healthy again. “I’m so grateful.”
Photo courtesy of Jamie Collins Photography
BI Cares Foundation provides financial support to the center’s Medically Underserved Initiative to help women in southwestern Connecticut.
Connecticut’s Norma F. Pfriem Breast Care Center provides screening, diagnostic, and other services to women in need. At its 12th annual Rose of Hope Luncheon, its largest fund-raising event ever and featuring actress and keynote speaker Julie Bowen of television’s “Modern Family,” BI Cares Foundation was awarded the center’s Rose of Hope Award for its support of breast cancer screening programs for underserved women. “Early detection remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control,” said BI Cares Foundation vice president Frank Pomer. “In fact, 95 percent of breast cancers are now curable when detected early. So making this opportunity available for these women is invaluable for them and their families.”
Boehringer Ingelheim’s Ben Venue Laboratories in Bedford, Ohio, manufactures sterile injectable medicines, including some that treat certain types of cancer. We are proud to have partnered with the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support the Northeast Ohio Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, including being the Survivor Ceremony Sponsor for this event. Our employees stand—and sometimes run—alongside people with cancer and their families in the search for a cure.
The Renew Crew of Petersburg, Virginia, is a volunteer organization committed to improving the housing and living conditions of low-income adults and persons with disabilities in their community. Many BI Chemicals employees have contributed to this community-minded effort by volunteering their time and skills in building and installing wheelchair ramps and assisting in other home improvement projects for those in need. What they’ve learned is that volunteering not only renews homes, but also serves as a rewarding personal renewal as well.
While our mission is to provide more medicines to more people in need, we know that sometimes it is better to take back than it is to give. Our Columbus, Ohio, businesses—Roxane Laboratories and Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane—have partnered with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio State Attorney General’s Office, Kroger Pharmacies and WCMH NBC4 to present a comprehensive Prevent Rx Drug Abuse program. This program encourages safe use of prescription medicines through quarterly drug take-back days, parent-student seminars on prescription drug abuse, and on-air and online news stories. To date the program has collected more than 3,000 pounds of unwanted prescription drugs, and has educated more than 500 families on the dangers of prescription drug abuse.
BI Cares is proud to be a major contributor to CPEP: Catalysts Powering Educational Performance. For more than 25 years, this statewide educational program in Connecticut has been helping under-represented youths prepare to follow their dreams of a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
25 Years of CPEP
Year 1
1 school district
1 school
40 students
Year 25
11 school districts
35 schools
900+ students/year
There’s a severe shortage of Man’s Best Friend out there. The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (NDSDF) reports that more Advanced Certified canine search teams are needed when disaster strikes, here at home or around the globe. Our U.S. Animal Health business, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., located in St. Joseph, Missouri, has a longstanding partnership with the NDSDF. Since 2004, the company has committed more than $1,000,000 in sponsorship to the nonprofit and its mission to strengthen disaster response around the world.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s success as an innovator is directly linked to the passion and commitment of its employees in bringing groundbreaking new medicines to patients. Turns out that the communities in which our employees live and work benefit from this same spirit of commitment and caring. We are proud of the innovative ways BI employees leverage their time, skills, and involvement to educate, motivate, and provide for their neighbors in need.
BI employees visit schools to
encourage the interest in science,
technology, engineering, and math.
Through events like Day of Action, BI employees
demonstrate their commitment to improving the
lives of patients, families and communities.
Only one orchestra that we know
of consists entirely of doctor-
musicians from around the globe:
the World Doctors Orchestra.
BI Cares knows that there’s a direct link
between gainful employment and health.
For the past 27 years, BI has been
proud to host Regional Hospice and
Home Care of Western Connecticut’s
signature event, The Art of Caring.
Plenty of orchestras stage concerts to raise money for charity. But one consists entirely of doctor-musicians from around the globe: the World Doctors Orchestra. One of those talented doctor-musicians is BI employee Birgit. “We work to support underfunded areas such as buying braces and other durable medical equipment,” she says. Other beneficiaries include HIV/AIDS patients in South Africa and victims of abuse and torture. Concerts have been held worldwide. Birgit plays both the cello and trombone. She loved music so much that at one point she had to decide between a career in music or medicine. Medical school won out, but music has remained an important part of her life. Birgit’s service doesn’t end when the music stops. As a medical doctor, she volunteers at the Boehringer Ingelheim AmeriCares Free Clinic in Danbury, Connecticut. Volunteering allows her to serve patients who might not otherwise be able to get the care they need while keeping her connected to the clinical side of patient care.
“I realize how lucky I am to serve others with talents that I don’t get to use in my day-to-day work.”
To hear a selection from a Berlin performance of the World Doctors Orchestra and see Dr. Kovacs play the cello, click the photo.
BI employee Jeff’s enthusiasm for science is as evident as the results of one of the experiments he conducts while volunteering at schools in Columbus, Ohio. “The materials are the stars of any show,” he gushes. “If they bubble, smoke, or change color, we have evidence of physical or chemical changes.” An Analytical Chemist at Roxane Laboratories, Jeff has been active in the American Chemical Society for nearly 20 years and serves on its Council on Community Activities. Jeff is a passionate promoter of science, living for that expression on a student’s face that tells him he’s sparked an interest. As a result of Jeff’s rapport with students, countless children in Central Ohio have been introduced to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
As part of Boehringer Ingelheim’s 9/11 Day of Service, BI employees visited Rogers Park Middle School and Danbury High School, both in Danbury, Connecticut, to encourage the students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. This gave the young students an opportunity to put a friendly face on these careers and motivate them to focus on their studies so that, one day, they might follow in these successful footsteps.
BI Cares knows that there’s a direct link between gainful employment and health. That’s why on its 9/11 Day of Service, BI employees with extensive experience in human resources and talent acquisition conducted a daylong workshop for clients of The Bridge to Independence and Career Opportunities (TBICO) seeking employment. Networking, interview skills, and LinkedIn were among the topics discussed. Clients there were also able to take advantage of an earlier, successful BI Cares drive that collected new or gently-used professional women’s clothing and accessories.
On June 6, 2012, 150 BI employees in nine teams supported nonprofit organizations in Western Connecticut by contributing their time and skills to a variety of projects, from sprucing up facilities and grounds, beautifying gardens and trails, building and taking down fences, and helping with painting projects at a variety of sites throughout the community. “BI is very fortunate to have employees who demonstrate our culture of caring each and every day,” says Ann Wainright, who led the volunteer effort. Beneficiaries included an Ability Beyond Disability group home, Ann’s Place, the Marian Anderson Studio for the Danbury Museum and Historical Society, Camp Candlewood, Danbury Youth Services, the Hispanic Center, the Salvation Army, and the Regional YMCA in Bethel.
Regional Hospice and Home Care of Western Connecticut provides end-of-life care and counseling to families in need. Last year, for instance, the organization made more than 30,000 such visits to area families. Considering the sensitive nature of these visits, the care provided is truly a work of art. For the past 27 years, BI has been proud to host the organization’s signature fundraising event, The Art of Caring. This event attracts hundreds of guests to the BI campus, where they can admire the work of more than 100 artists while enjoying the artistry of local musicians and gourmet fare donated by the area’s finest restaurants. Supporting the work of Regional Hospice and Home Care goes hand-in-hand with Boehringer Ingelheim’s commitment to patients and families, and our support of employee volunteering.
Quick: In three words, describe how you’d make more health. That’s the challenge we gave to our Ridgefield, Connecticut employees on Value Through Innovation Day, an annual global event that celebrates the ways Boehringer Ingelheim is expanding and strengthening connections with healthcare providers, patients, families, communities, and employees. The answers will inspire you. Check it out!
Change begins with an idea. An idea becomes reality only when certain individuals have the vision, passion, and determination to see it through. In our world of medicines and healthcare, we are fortunate to work with people willing to tackle major social issues and implement ideas and programs that bring about wide-scale improvements in the health and well-being of patients around the world. We call these people “social entrepreneurs.” BI Cares is proud to support their innovative programs, research, and education as they—with little fanfare—strive to ensure the health of this and future generations.
A young social entrepreneur with an idea for helping adolescent girls creates a week-long summer camp for girls aged 8 to 12 that promotes discussions on self-esteem, inner beauty, body image, health, and ambition. The idea: celebrate uniqueness, not conformity and similarity. They call their camp “Finding the Fabulous.”
The young innovator, a college student named Lauren, along with a partner, Sarah, created a business plan and pitched it to Ashoka Youth Ventures, a BI Cares Foundation partner. The enterprising duo received funding and put their idea to work. Last summer, 40 girls attended the camp. Students from nearby schools volunteer as senior camp counselors, and 13-year-old camp grads can give back by serving as junior counselors. Follow-up activities for camp graduates continue year round. Lauren and Sarah hope to expand the number of campers and promote “Finding the Fabulous” in other communities.
“It’s not surprising that nearly all adolescent girls are unhappy with the way they look,” says Lauren. “From an early age, they are bombarded with messages on how they ‘should’ look.” Thanks to Lauren and Sarah’s social entrepreneurship, though, more young teens are able to see through these messages to create their own unique—and healthy—versions of fabulous.
The Social Enterprise Awards, sponsored by Connecticut-based Social Enterprise Trust (reSET), recognize aspiring individuals with a business concept for a sustainable social enterprise designed to improve the community, create jobs, and demonstrate the power of harnessing profit for purpose.
Boehringer Ingelheim is proud to support one of those awards, the 2012 More Health Through Innovation Award. The 2012 award went to Combat2Career (C2C), an innovative web-based portal that helps veterans to search and apply to veteran-friendly educational programs, internships, and jobs. C2C not only facilitates the transition from combat to higher education, but also from higher education to the civilian workforce by providing a way for veterans to develop relationships with mentors and veteran-friendly businesses while they are completing their degrees and embarking on their post-graduation careers.
Charlotte, co-founder of C2C, is helping veterans find educational programs and employment based on criteria that are most important to them.
Don’t let the title fool you. The Virtual Hang-out we’re talking about isn’t for slackers and video games. Rather, it’s an innovative approach to brainstorming and sharing ideas and expertise with social entrepreneurs around the world. Ashoka, a global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, collaborated with BI Cares on the Virtual Hang-out approach with a computer, a webcam, and an internet connection.
More than a dozen Boehringer Ingelheim employees took advantage of the Virtual Hang-out on its 9/11 Day of Service in Ridgefield to share their experience and skills in creating business plans, developing marketing strategies, and setting cost-effective pricing structures. Here’s a sampling of just a few of the projects discussed:
MyMind, brainchild of Making More Health Fellow Krystian Fikert, is a public mental health service in Ireland that brings much-needed help to the community—faster and more cost-effectively.
BreathEasy, created by innovator Nikos Papachristou, makes treatment of pediatric asthma more effective through its line of kid-friendly inhaler and other devices.
Haydrick Healthcare, founded by innovator Hayden Williams, is working to bring portable radiology and medical records access technology to areas where service has traditionally not been available.
The successful 9/11 events have already led other Boehringer Ingelheim national offices to get involved, including BI Netherlands and BI Australia. As these and more and more BI offices are learning, hanging out for an hour can help create real change around the world.