As we approach the holiday giving season, DaVita teammates reflect on the importance and impact of healthy communities.

At DaVita, we believe that a healthy community leads to a healthy world with healthy people. For this reason, DaVita has sewed sustainability into the fabric of its operations. DaVita teammates are provided several opportunities to positively impact the environment including through the DaVita Way of Giving (DWOG) annual giving program.

Through the program, DaVita dialysis centers have donated millions of dollars to causes such as children’s organizations, crisis centers, animal shelters, food banks and many more. New this year, teammates had the opportunity to donate to one of three national causes: The Arbor Day Foundation, The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and Reach Out and Read.

Each of the three national organizations were chosen based on the causes voted on by teammates – health equity, education and civic engagement.

DaVita Wichita Dialysis Center is one of 2,800 DaVita centers given the opportunity to participate in this year’s giving program. Although far from the California coasts, the team was heavily impacted by the wildfires that devastated western states and chose to direct funds to The Arbor Day Foundation to support rehabilitation efforts.

 In 2020, western states saw record-breaking wildfires that ravaged natural foliage and disrupted wild and domestic life. These events inspired many DaVita centers participating in the annual DWOG giving program to consider how their gift could impact rehabilitation and preservation of forestry across the country.

“Forestry has always been something I loved,” said Shannon Shadley, facility administrator for the DaVita Wichita Dialysis center. “And I loved that [The Arbor Day Foundation] is about preserving our forestry and the well-being of our world.”

In addition to being the facility administrator of the Wichita home dialysis center, Shadley also serves as a Green Champion, which is a DaVita teammate who commits to helping the company reach its environmental goals and helping spread this passion to teammates, patients, family and friends. As a part of this role, Green Champions must also guide their team in completing environmentally-focused action items each quarter. Not only did the team’s contribution support their sustainability goals, but it also supported their commitment to community.

“It made sense to choose the Arbor Day Foundation because of all the wildfires,” says Shadley. “But it was the big winner [voted on by the team] because we really wanted to contribute to community and the world as a whole, knowing that we’re having global warming and other issues. We’re just hoping that a contribution to The Arbor Day Foundation will really help over all.”

In total, DaVita teammates directed more than $68,000 to The Arbor Day Foundation. For every $1,000 contributed to restoring U.S. forests, 1,000 trees will be planted to recover from recent wildfires, hurricanes, and infestations. In addition, DaVita planted 20,000 trees to celebrate 20 years of providing high quality care to kidney patients across the U.S. making an overall impact of planting 100,000 trees!

“We want to thank each and every teammate that chose to support tree-planting efforts with the Arbor Day Foundation,” says Abbie Eisenhart, partner relationship manager at the Arbor Day Foundation. “The trees planted through this partnership will help repair critical wildlife habitats and impaired watersheds. They will help heal scars left by wildfires and hurricanes. They will clean our air and sequester carbon dioxide. And they will leave a positive impact for so many future generations.”  

Shadley, who has been with DaVita for 18 years, says the programs that DaVita offers its teammates is just one of many ways the company supports the communities it serves beyond kidney care.

“I love the programs and I like what they stand for,” says Shadley. “It’s another way DaVita promotes more than just doing dialysis. They give back…to their teams, to the community…and I like to promote that.”

DaVita offers teammates the opportunity to care for the environment through other programs such as Village Green. Created in 2007, Village Green is DaVita’s initiative to promote environmental sustainability in our centers and offices around the world. Its goal is to reduce the company’s environmental impact while educating teammates and patients about what they can do to help.

DaVita is committed to the continuous improvement of environmental stewardship, clinical quality and developing innovative initiatives that protect the health of people and our planet, such as DaVita Way of Giving. To learn more about DaVita's environmental goals, visit DaVita.com/CSR.

As one of the world's largest operating environmental foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation, through its members, partners and programs, educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees. More information is available at arborday.org.