Nursing
Our Stories

Donors have many, often very personal reasons why they give to Hoag. They come from diverse backgrounds and professions and they give gifts that range from the multi-millions to modest amounts. But they all share one thing in common: Hoag donors give from their hearts to make sure Orange County has the very best health care. A group of young philanthropists from Julie Rierson’s fifth grade class at Kinetic Academy in Huntington Beach was no different and a few speak from personal experience about the compassionate care they received from Hoag.

Fifth grader Kiane Lu, chief executive officer of Bracelet Besties, and her classmates chose to support Hoag through their BizWorld class project. The team included Jonathan Allende, Nikolas Winter, Brandon Hatamoto and Ann Pocta. They researched the Hoag Hospital Foundation’s website and were excited to learn that they could donate to nursing scholarships. The group also sought venture capital and developed an advertising campaign to market the bracelets at their school carnival. In the end, Bracelet Besties made a gift of $151.35 to support nursing at Hoag.

"Hoag provides great health care for everyone and we're happy to support them," Kiane said, whose little sister, now four years old, was born at Hoag.

Jonathan Allende also speaks from personal experience, having made a few visits this year to the Joan & Andy Fimiano Emergency Pavilion at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach and to Hoag Urgent Care in Huntington Beach due to playground injuries. He credits the nurses for making his experiences positive and helping him to feel better.

"We especially liked that 100% of our donation would help fund the nursing program so the nurses get a good education and help more people," he said.

The Hoag Hospital Foundation is very grateful to Bracelet Besties and all the fifth graders at Kinetic Academy. Their generosity will help more Hoag nurses in achieving their dreams of obtaining a Bachelor of Science or higher degree in Nursing.