Cerner in the community

True to our mission, we seek to develop the communities where our associates live and work, so that individuals have access to the tools they need to be educated, healthy and productive. Listed below are priority funding areas for our community initiatives.

Lending a hand in the UK

Cerner UK associates have chosen to support individual case grants as well as fund special therapy at Stephen Hawking School in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, where the majority of students have multiple profound physical and learning difficulties.

We have also been involved in volunteering at the North Paddington Food Bank, helping raise awareness for the Children of St Mary’s Intensive Care (COSMIC) charity and supporting Sussex Nightstop by preparing care bags for young people affected by homelessness.

Our associates are keen to give back independently of Cerner too, taking part in fun runs and marathons to raise funds, national health days, blood donation drives and volunteering their free time to help others – including some of our clinical staff who volunteer to give medical help to those who need it most.

First Hand Foundation

In 1995, Cerner founded the First Hand Foundation to directly fund health-related needs for individual children when financial resources have been exhausted. Serving as the primary philanthropic organisation supported by Cerner and its associates, company funding (as well as investment income) covers all administrative costs of the foundation. This allows 100 percent of donations from associates and private donors to directly impact the health of a child.

To date, First Hand has impacted more than 200,000 lives in 83 different countries. More than $21 million has been distributed since First Hand’s inception, paying for clinical necessities (medicines, surgery, etc), medical equipment (hearing aids, wheelchairs, etc), vehicle modifications (lifts, ramps, etc), and travel expenses relating to a child’s care (airfare, lodging, etc).

For more information, please visit the First Hand Foundation website.

Health and wellness initiatives

We put on lots of activities for our associates – yoga, quizzes, running clubs and more – as we really believe that to do a good job, you need to be in good physical and mental health. Associates that feel healthy are likely to be happier and when you’re happy you have that get-up-and-go spirit that provides a boost to productivity, so caring for wellbeing really benefits us all.

We also believe that a keen knowledge of personal health and the factors that affect it is vital for our associates to improve medical conditions that plague individuals across the globe. By combining knowledge with prevention and early detection of chronic conditions – including mental health training, flu jabs and health MOTs – we believe there is true potential to achieve reformed healthcare.

Our caring philosophies

Our community strategy starts with healthy and engaged associates. Once we have that, it makes giving back to others that much easier. We aim to help in many ways, and these are our key three philosophies:

1. The strength of a community is directly impacted by the health of its individuals. A healthy population will drive the long term strength of a local economy.
2. Today's technological advancements and changing business needs provide reason to review how we educate our children and future workforce. As the world evolves, so should education.
3. Our founders and associates value entrepreneurism and its development in the areas of life sciences, technology, innovation and healthcare.