Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation

Programs: Brave beginnings an initiative of the will rogers institute in 2015, the will rogers institute neonatal ventilator equipment program was officially renamed, brave beginnings (bb). A large portion of wri program resources was dedicated to the launch and establishing the new program name, especially in the healthcare community that encompasses individuals and organizations that are all dedicated to the issue of premature births in the united states. Due to the large premature birth problem in the united states (the us has the sixth highest rate of premature births in the world, 12% of all births, in most developed countries the rate is 7 9%), hospitals have a tremendous need for additional equipment and modern equipment that will give a premature infant a fighting chance at a life without disease or a permanent disorder. In 2016-17, the bb program issued 24 grants to hospitals in the usa, from a pool of 64 applicants. The total amount of grant funding was again just over $1 million dollars, which funded the purchase of 79 pieces of equipment. The demand for equipment funding was approximately $9,000,000. Since the ventilator grant program was established in 2006, 170 hospitals have received grants, totaling $6. 7 million dollars, and an estimated 107,244 infants have benefited. The will rogers motion picture pioneers foundation will continue to put a considerable amount of effort into the brave beginnings program in 2017-18, to try and meet the need of hospitals through the us, as well as, educate the public about the need and long-term benefits to helping premature infants develop without lifelong ailments. Along with many other individuals and organizations dedicated to fighting the preemie epidemic, the brave beginnings program will try to help eliminate a generation of children growing up with ailments and disorders, due to a premature birth, by providing healthcare institutions and professionals with the tools they need to perform the miracles people are asking of them. Following the tradition established by the will rogers institute program, and utilizing resources from the entertainment industry, public service announcements made a significant impact in 2016-17. There were two psas in the market, one featuring award winning musical talent phillip phillips, who was a preemie, and an animated psa featuring sir isaac newton, who was also a preemie. The two public service announcements played at 16 movie theater circuits, either on the big screen or on lobby entertainment monitors. In addition to the psa play in movie theaters, the psas also had a tremendous amount of play on cable television and websites. The phillips psa released to websites and was streamed 715,743 times. The psa had a 73% completion view rate, national average is 45%. The newton psa aired 14,651 times on 500 stations, in 2016-17, providing an in-kind media value of $4,916,543. The psa was seen on the cnn airport network, cooking channel, diy channel, and the food network. Sixty-seven percent of the psa airings was between the hours 5 am 10 pm, with 8% of the play happening in the 8:00-10:00 pm hours. The brave beginnings program was featured on nationally podcast radio program, dr. Gluss: engaging minds (kabc) and a nationally syndicated news program called life connected (nbc), which is produced and features the respected reporter carolyn johnson. Brave beginnings was also the featured program for the 64th cannes lions international festival of creativity aka the young lions competition. In the usa, junior creative executives competed to earn a trip to the marketing festival in cannes, france and compete against other junior execs from around the world. The usa contestants had to create content and campaigns for all marketing sectors exclusively for brave beginnings. The marketing sectors were: print psa, cyber, integrated marketing & public relations, and video psa. Each category produced fantastic ideas and we look forward to utilizing some of them in 2018-19. Also, in 2016-17, wrmppf joined other organizations dedicated to premature birth awareness and preemie support for the national nicu awareness campaign. Brave beginnings spokes people, liam hemsworth, zoe saldana, and phillip phillips all made a push on social media to create awareness for nicu awareness month, as well as, bring attention to the premature birth epidemic in the usa. Celebrity kim kardashian west also signed-on to support the campaign by sending messages to her 48 million followers on social media.

pioneers assistance programthe pioneers assistance fund (paf), provides people who work or have spent a career in theatrical entertainment with financial assistance for health and welfare issues. The paf is funded by restricted donations from entertainment industry companies, foundations and individuals who work in the industry, primarily via an annual gala event, golf tournament, and year-end solicitation. In 2016-17, the fund provided long-term assistance to 29 clients and short-term assistance to 210 clients, up from 95 the previous year. Client ailments included bone/joint/muscle disorders, brain/spinal cord/nerve disorders, heart and blood vessel disorders, lung/airway disorders, mental health issues, and financial hardship. The top three reasons for assistance are: 1. Financial hardship, 2. Cancer treatments, and 3. Accident or unforeseen circumstance. The age range for long-term assistance recipients is 50 - 99, with many of those receiving assistance between the ages 71 90. The short-term client ages are from 20-100 years of age, with the majority receiving assistance in the 51 70 age group. The pioneers assistance fund program provides financial assistance for the following services: medical rehabilitation, medical related equipment, vocational rehabilitation, emergency grants, and quality of life issues (due to health-related circumstance). In 2016-17, the number one health ailment, for clients needing financial assistance, was cancer. Homelessness was not as much of a problem, as the year previous, because social workers had experience in 2015-16 working with clients who were homeless (due to financial hardship) they were on the lookout for certain circumstances. Social workers are finding that a significant number of people seeking financial assistance are employed, but live under a very tight budget, due to many factors. One accident, illness or unforeseen incident can create a household crisis. Paf clients reflect the greater circumstance affecting middle-class workers in the usa, most are barely keeping up with financial demands of day-to-day life.

will rogers institute research & fellowships the will rogers institute (wri) is a program that has roots dating back to when the charity operated the will rogers memorial hospital. A primary objective of the hospital was to conduct research for patient care and train pulmonary doctors on how to provide the best care for their patients. Today, wri funds general pulmonary research that provides training for the next generation of pulmonologists and pulmonary researchers, as well as, provides funding for medical school fellowships (training fellowships). In 2016-17, wri funded research at: burke rehabilitation hospital (white plains, ny), university of southern california school of medicine, university of california los angeles medical school, and patricia neal rehabilitation hospital (knoxville, tn). The fellowships were at: new york university, university of texas medical school (dallas, tx), university of california los angeles, and university of southern california. Current sponsored programs at the four laboratories include: treatment of lung infections by newly discovered natural antibiotics known as defensins at ucla; new strategies for treatment of lung injury and pulmonary edema from air pollution and other lung injuries at usc; advanced methods of delivering pulmonary rehabilitation utilizing social workers and medical practitioners at burke; and smoking cessation programs for patients in pulmonary rehabilitation, as well as other pulmonary related therapies at the patricia neal center. The objective for funding research fellowships in lung diseases at many major universities throughout the united states is to help train future leaders of lung research and thoracic specialists.