Helmsley Charitable Trust proudly stands among the largest donors in AHA's 100-year history
For much of his adult life, Walter Panzirer helped look after folks in South Dakota.
Working as a paramedic, then a police officer and as a resource officer in schools, Panzirer learned all about the challenges faced across his state – and, he discovered, throughout rural America. One of the biggest challenges: health care. A tradeoff for the joy of living amid wide-open spaces is that hospitals are far apart, equipment is often old and there aren't nearly enough doctors, especially not specialists.
Then Panzirer landed a new, unexpected role. His grandmother – New York hotel magnate Leona Helmsley – died and left him among those in charge of a $5 billion charitable trust.
In other words, Panzirer found himself in a position to make a huge difference in the lives of countless people. Including, of course, those in South Dakota and across rural America.
And, wow, what a difference he and his organization have made.
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has invested about $83 million into a variety of endeavors with the American Heart Association. As the AHA celebrates its 100th birthday in 2024, the Helmsley Charitable Trust stands as one of the organization's most impactful philanthropic partners.
"Thanks to the vision brought to us by Walter and the Helmsley Charitable Trust, we have been able to make meaningful change to vast parts of our country," American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said. "Because as Walter often says, where you live shouldn't impact the quality of care you receive."
When the Helmsley Charitable Trust was created, its leaders were given a single charge: Make a difference. With so many ways of doing so, the Trustees sought guidance from the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Panzirer told the advisors about his interest in rural health care. They recommended calling the American Heart Association.
"To make a huge difference in cardiovascular care in rural America, you need to partner with the American Heart Association because they're already working there," Panzirer said. "They touch every community in the United States through multiple programs, they're the gold standard when it comes to training and they're the gold standard when it comes to policy work."
Back when the relationship was being set up, Panzirer was especially intrigued by an AHA program that essentially streamlined the chain of events between a 911 call and a patient arriving at the best possible hospital based on their condition and in the fastest time possible.
Known as Mission: Lifeline, the program already was a success in limited areas. Panzirer wanted to test it across an entire state. South Dakota, of course.
That pilot program became such a major difference-maker that the Helmsley Charitable Trust has since invested in the launch of Mission: Lifeline across North Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana and Iowa.
Of all the metrics that could be used to emphasize the program's success, Panzirer opted to instead sum it up with this anecdote:
A man was working on a power line in Sully County, the north-central part of South Dakota, when a zap of electricity caused his heart to stop. He was in cardiac arrest. First responders arrived with an automated external defibrillator, or AED, and were able to restore a rhythm. They also attached him to a 12-lead EKG machine, generating valuable information. While driving to a hospital 40 miles away in Pierre, they sent that EKG information, helping prepare the care team for his arrival. Once stabilized there, he was transferred via helicopter to a heart hospital in Sioux Falls, another 225 miles away.
"And that gentleman is still living to this day," Panzirer said, smiling. "It was not just one thing that saved this man's life. It was everything."
The first Helmsley grant to the AHA was made in 2010. The funding to bring Mission: Lifeline to the other rural areas followed. Then, in 2017, the Helmsley Charitable Trust made two significant changes: They brought the same blueprint to New York City and began funding another version of Mission: Lifeline – one for stroke patients. Helmsley has now supported Mission: Lifeline Stroke in North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Iowa.
Helmsley continues to support various AHA initiatives that are especially valuable to rural America.
HeartCorps is a program to help grow a pipeline of public health workers in rural communities. More recently, Helmsley backed the launch of a program to certify stroke rehabilitation at skilled nursing facilities, as well as the AHA Center for Telehealth.
Panzirer is especially excited about the Center for Telehealth.
For more than a decade, he's seen how simple yet profound it can be to bring a specialist into a remote area via a screen. It took the COVID-19 pandemic for more people to appreciate how much telehealth can help.
The technology isn't just for rural areas. Any urban care center that lacks specialists suddenly becomes only a few clicks away from the experts it needs.
The AHA agrees. And to help set up this new layer of care, the Center will provide professional training and certification – another of the "gold standards" that Panzirer admires.
"Any time the AHA can amplify our voice, it gets to more of the public and to more of the decision-makers, whether it's federal or state lawmakers or leaders of individual health care systems," Panzirer said. "The American Heart Association brings that credibility."
Aligned in vision and purpose, the AHA and the Helmsley Charitable Trust will continue to find ways to improve and extend lives in rural America and throughout the United States.
"Our relationship continues to evolve and improve," Panzirer said, "because the AHA delivers on its promises."
