Healthcare Related Non Profit Organizations

Health care organizations like hospitals and clinics exist to care for people in their time of medical need. Nonprofit health care organizations operate similarly, and you’d be surprised to know that many of the hospitals that you may have been to (for a variety of reasons) are actually nonprofit organizations themselves, or at least have a nonprofit or charitable component.

What is a health care nonprofit?

Nonprofit health care organizations provide medical services (this can also include dental, psychiatric or other specialized health services) as well as educational and preventative care services. Health care organizations that qualify as nonprofit organizations are mission-driven, rather than profit-driven.

What are some examples of health care nonprofit agencies and organizations?

Good Neighbor Health Care: Good Neighbor Health Care is a community-based nonprofit organization in Houston, Texas which seeks to expand the availability of health care services to people living in the greater Houston area. They offer a continuum of health care service – dental, primary care, mental and behavioral health and nutrition – for free or at reduced cost. They are committed to providing everyone with health care services, regardless of their financial situation.

American Heart Association: The American Heart Association is one of the most recognizable names in nonprofit health care. They offer a wide range of programs with the end goal of raising awareness about heart disease and its causes. They also offer CPR certification so that all individuals can be prepared in the event that someone they know has a heart attack. Because of the far reach of the American Heart Association’s programs, they are one of the top employers in the field, with positions available in virtually every area.

Doctors Without Borders: Doctors Without Borders combines health care nonprofit work with international aid. The organizations send qualified physicians to developing countries to assist in basic health assessments and treatment, as well as more specialized services for certain preventable diseases. Doctors Without Borders has field offices worldwide, with the majority of work being focused on Africa and Southeast Asia. While physicians are always in demand, there are also opportunities for health care managers and other administrative and development professionals.

What are nonprofit health care jobs?

Service Delivery

“Service delivery” is just a fancy term for doctors and nurses, that is, those who are working one on one with patients in nonprofit health care organizations. This can go beyond what we typically think of with doctors and nurses – private practice doctors seeing patients and working in hospitals. Since nonprofit organizations like the ones listed above often work with under-served populations, the job descriptions of doctors and nurses can be radically different from those in the private sector. It is much more common for nonprofit doctors and nurses to participate in home visits, work in mobile clinics or serve many walk-in, urgent care patients in a nonprofit setting. Doctors and nurses who work for nonprofit organizations may also work abroad with basic health and medical needs through programs like Doctors Without Borders.

Education

Education is an essential part of health, and there are many opportunities for professionals to become involved in nonprofit health care education jobs. Community outreach is a major component of nonprofit health care education. Experts are needed to go into under-served community to hold workshops and talk to people about preventative care and treatment for a variety of health and medical issues. Other nonprofit health organizations send educators straight to the health care providers to teach them about interacting with certain populations, and specializing services.

Communications and Development

As you’ve probably gathered from reading about nonprofit organizations is that they all need to get money from somewhere, and that they all have at least one person on staff who is in charge of “development” or fund-raising. The job of a development professional is to identify and create funding proposals for outside donors in an effort to garner financial support for your nonprofit organization. What is unique about fundraising in the health care nonprofit world is that they types of organizations that you might be contact can be vastly different from human services or educational organizations. This includes companies like pharmaceutical manufacturers and even food and beverage corporations.

Communications associates and directors leverage information about the work being done by an organization to raise awareness about health issues. In health care communications, it is common for professionals to have some kind of health background, which can help with terminology with complicated medical issues. If you do not have a health or medical background and are interested in working in nonprofit health care communications, a degree of adaptability and a desire to learn new things is definitely essential.