An account of our Do-Gooders team and philanthropic endeavors over the years

November is a time of giving and celebrating those who mean the most to us. For Desert Radiology, the Southern Nevada community is at the center of what we do and the thing we love the most. For years, our team has worked with local organizations and hospitals to provide the best care to our patients and the community we service. This month, we’d like to reflect on our practice’s philanthropic history and remember some of the most incredible moments we’ve experienced helping others.

Desert Radiology was founded in 1966 by three radiologists who sought to better the lives of their local community. We originally partnered with UMC hospital and operated two outpatient imaging centers. We continued working with other Southern Nevada hospitals as the years went on to be the diagnostic imaging facility they could rely on. We wanted to ensure Southern Nevada was receiving the best diagnostic imaging possible, and we took steps to ensure our facilities served patients with the highest quality care while using cutting-edge technology.

In 2016, we realized we could do even more for Southern Nevadans than provide the services our practice offered, and we began working on a new idea to make a difference in our community. We moved away from traditional advertising efforts and repurposed those funds to support Southern Nevada charities that were making an impact in our community. The Desert Radiology Do-Gooders was formed, and this became our internal philanthropic group, comprised of Desert Radiology Teammates who wanted to volunteer their time and efforts to positively change lives.

Later that year, we were proud to partner with the City Impact Center; donating 50 turkeys to their 2016 turkey drive. Our DR Do-Gooders team worked with them once again to contribute over 400 backpacks annually across 2017- 2022 back-to-school drives, and we donated over 32,000 diapers to families in need in our very first diaper drive in 2017. In the summer of 2019, our practice presented a summer fair for City Impact Center’s after-school program and, we donated $3,000 to their annual Thanksgiving Dinner program since 2019; to help fight food insecurity in the Southern Nevada community.

Our DR Do-Gooders group has also donated 100 packages of new underwear to Project 150 in the summer of 2019 to help provide essentials to disadvantaged high school students, further reinforcing our commitment to Southern Nevada local charities. Our efforts were making a difference, but in-person charity events temporarily came to an end as Southern Nevadans faced their biggest struggle yet — the COVID-19 pandemic. Still wanting to make a positive impact in people’s lives, we took the pandemic and lockdowns on as a challenge and worked with our Do-Gooders team to begin a virtual campaign. The 25 Days of Do-Gooders saw us donating a total of over $6000 across 25 local charities in December 2020. The campaign was so successful, we upped the ante for the next year and increased our donations to $25,000 in 2021, giving each charity $1,000.

Last month, we had the privilege of granting a 7-year-old girl’s wish to send her and her family to the Walt Disney World Resort by working with Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada. During the event, we hosted a game-themed treasure hunt for her and stopped at different stations to pick up more gifts that hinted towards her wish being granted. At the end of her journey, a room full of our staff surprised her with the big news, creating a magical moment that will stay with her for the rest of her life.

As we head into the last month of 2022, we wanted to look back and reflect on all the lives we’ve touched. Our practice is humbled that Southern Nevadans have made us the premier diagnostic imaging center, and we’ll continue to provide first-class care to our patients and life-changing moments to our community. This is the season to be thankful, and we wanted to take a moment to appreciate and thank our physicians, clinical staff, technologists, and support teammates for the incredible work they do every day. Most of all, we wanted to stop and thank the Southern Nevada community for allowing us to service you for over 50 years. From all our DR Do-Gooders here at Desert Radiology, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and Happy Holidays!