Fortuna Couple Donates $100,000 to Enhance Local Health Care on the North Coast

The St. Joseph Hospital Eureka Foundation and Redwood Memorial Hospital Foundation announced June 8th that Fortuna residents Harry and Janie Hardin have donated $100,000 to help support programs at St. Joseph Health, Humboldt County.

The Hardin’s gift will fund expanded services in the Outpatient Rehabilitation Program, specifically physical therapy for neurological related issues associated with Parkinson’s disease, and the new St. Joseph Hospital Eureka Family Medicine Residency program.

Hardin, who recently sold Eel River Disposal after building the company from scratch 33 years ago, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013 and was travelling to Santa Rosa for care. The impact of so much travel took a heavy toll on Harry. It wasn’t until 2017 while receiving rehab for a broken arm at St. Joseph’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Unit, when he learned he could also get treatment for Parkinson’s locally. His physical therapist designed a unique program enabling him to stay at home for his care.

“Our gift recognizes and thanks St. Joseph for the excellent care that I’ve received, especially for the extra effort of the Outpatient Rehabilitation physical therapy team for improving the quality of life for Janie and me,” said Harry.

“The Hardin gift is making a huge impact on our rehabilitation services,” said Jim Peaker, area director, rehabilitation services, St. Joseph Health, Humboldt County. “Our program is ranked annually in the top 1% nationally for patient satisfaction, and the success with Harry is an outstanding example of how our therapists truly provide excellent care one patient at a time.”

The Hardin’s gift recognizes that investment in local health care is important to help strengthen programs and services on the North Coast, in addition to accessing physicians so families don’t have to endure additional hardships when seeking care.

“We’re very excited that our gift will also help recruit more primary care doctors to our area. This will lead to more specialists coming to St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial hospitals, which will have a huge impact on our community,” said Janie.