(HOWARD, SD) – Horizon Health employees once again showed their dedication by being ROOTED IN THEIR COMMUNITIES during the 2025 Employee Giving Campaign.
Employee donations help patients with transportation, cancer screenings, as well as medical, dental, and behavioral health expenses.
The Rooted in Our Communities theme for this year’s annual Employee Giving Campaign celebrates the deep connections and impact our clinic staff have within their community. It is inspired by the many ways Horizon team members contribute far beyond their roles at the clinic. Through volunteering, lending a hand to neighbors, and for some, cultivating the land as a farm family or cultivating growth, our employees show their dedication through building their families within these communities. The campaign honors the legacies that flourish within our clinics, whether that be through mentorship that passes down knowledge or through longstanding family traditions of working in medicine. Rooted in Our Communities is a tribute to the dedication and heart that makes Horizon and its patients stronger every day.
Soliris Almestica, a receptionist/interpreter at Horizon Health Aberdeen used the Horizon Health Foundation Employee Emergency Fund to supplement her income during treatment for cancer. Almestica thought she was ill with the flu, but she had a malignant mass on her kidney. Treatment was successful and she now visits the Mayo Clinic once a year for follow-up assessments.
“Thank God they caught that cancer really, really in time,” she said.
She has worked at Horizon for six years helping non-English speaking patients navigate appointment scheduling and office visits. She said her patients love having someone at their local clinic who speaks the same language.
“Right away they change their primary care provider and come here (to Horizon),” she said.
Support from the Emergency Fund helped Almestica through a dark time. She encourages others to give to apply for the funds if they find themselves in need. She is just one of the 76 employees that have received Employee Emergency Assistance. (you can phrase this any way you would like)
Over the last eight years, the employees of Horizon Health have donated nearly $355,000. Together all Horizon investors have donated over $3.8M which has impacted over 5,000 Horizon Health patients.
About Horizon Health Foundation
The Horizon Health Foundation was established in 2016 to ensure rural health care access to those in need and provide funding for Horizon Health. Horizon Health Foundation, a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation, seeks through responsible activities to encourage and derive sustaining gift support from current and former patients and interested friends, including corporate entities. The Horizon Health Foundation, operating in coordination with Horizon Health, is the duly designated fundraising arm for Horizon Health. In the broadest sense, the purpose of the Foundation is to create an awareness of the financial needs of Horizon Health, which are not provided by patient charges and to systematically implement plans by which dollar needs can be met. For more information and to give, go to https://horizonhealthfoundation.com/
About Horizon Health Care
For over 45 years, Horizon Health has been providing personalized, affordable, high-quality medical, dental and mental health care through a rural, community-based network in South Dakota. Horizon is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that serves the medical, dental and mental health care needs of South Dakotans in rural, medically underserved areas through 110,000 patient visits annually in 31 community health centers. For more information, please visit www.horizonhealthcare.org.