History

In 1985, Harvard Medical School sent solicitation letters seeking funding for Alzheimer’s research to the CEOs of several large long term health care companies. The letter received by Extendicare (then Unicare) requested a grant of $185,000 -- a sizable sum today, and certainly a large amount in 1985. The President of Extendicare at that time saw the obvious connection between the company’s commitment to the elderly and the need to attack this debilitating disease. Accordingly, he challenged the company’s employees and nursing facilities to focus their fundraising efforts on this one cause and asked each facility to raise about $1,000 per year.

Extendicare responded to Harvard’s request with a three-year pledge of $187,500 and a Foundation Board of five Extendicare employees was established as a not-for-profit legal entity to collect and disperse funds. During its first year, $65,000 was raised. Fundraising results increased dramatically as the company grew and as fundraising techniques became more sophisticated and competitive. Fundraising by the facilities peaked in 1999 at $245,000 and now hovers near $225,000 per year.

The initial three-year grant funded the work of Dr. Marilyn Albert of Harvard Medical School who was conducting Alzheimer’s research at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Foundation renewed this grant in 1988 and again in 1991 for a total of five additional years at the level of $25,000 per year. In 1988, the Foundation began a relationship with the French Foundation to fund a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital at the level of $30,000 per year and have continued that relationship ever since.

The Foundation began to recognize the need to broaden its original mission of funding Alzheimer’s Disease (since not all facilities had the same emphasis on dementia) and to formulate better guidelines for local grants. The Foundation identified three areas for its mission - Alzheimer’s Disease research and services, quality of life and quality of care initiatives, and caregiver education.

By the close of 2007, it is estimated the Foundation has contributed well over $2.5 million to numerous causes related to America’s elderly citizens. More than $1.0 million has been devoted to the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. In so doing, Extendicare and its employees have demonstrated their passion for caring and giving back to the people they serve.