Hermanowski Family Foundation Initial Request Form<\/p>\n
Organization Name: Altru Health System
\nLegal Name (if Different):
\nAlso Known As:
\nMailing Address: 2501 Demers Avenue
\nCity: Grand Forks, ND
\nState: North Dakota
\nPostal Code: 58201
\nMain Phone: 7017805600
\nMain Fax:
\nOrganization Website: altru.org
\nEmployer ID Number: 45-0310462
\nOrganization Tax Status: non profit<\/p>\n
Proposal Information<\/p>\n
Today’s Date: 3\/19\/2026
\nRequested Amount: 5,000<\/p>\n
Project Title: Helping Little Hands Do Big Things
\nProject Description:<\/p>\n
Altru Health System serves a broad rural and frontier region where distance, workforce shortages, and limited local rehabilitation services create barriers\u2014especially for children with complex needs. Many families travel long distances to reach Altru\u2019s Outpatient Therapy Department (OTD), making each visit especially meaningful.
\nThe OTD provides occupational, speech language, and physical therapy to a rapidly growing pediatric population with conditions such as cerebral palsy, brachial plexus and spinal cord injuries, CVAs, and various neurological or chromosomal disorders. Many of these children experience limited hand function and significant communication challenges, affecting their independence.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the department completed 845 new Occupational Therapy evaluations and 195 new Speech-Language Pathology evaluations. Each week, approximately 318 children receive therapy services, many of whom experience limited grasp strength, poor fine motor control, atypical muscle tone, or expressive communication challenges that impact participation and progress.
\nWhile our current interventions are effective, they often require substantial hand over hand assistance, limiting opportunities for children to initiate and complete tasks on their own. Integrating adaptive therapy technology would reduce this dependence and create a more self directed experience. This grant seeks support to purchase a Guided Hands device, iPads, Apple Pencils, and evidence based Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)applications.
\nThe Guided Hands device stabilizes the arm to enable smooth, controlled movement\u2014allowing children to write, draw, point, and access AAC tools despite tremors, weakness, or limited range of motion. When paired with digital devices and AAC applications, it opens access to communication and therapeutic activities that would otherwise require significant physical support.
\nBased on current utilization, an estimated 25\u201340% of our pediatric patients\u2014especially those with neurological conditions or limited expressive abilities\u2014would directly benefit from this equipment. Integrating adaptive technology tools will ultimately advance our care by giving children the ability to \u201cfeel and do\u201d for themselves.<\/p>\n
Total Project Budget: 9750<\/p>\n
Other Funding
\nSources For The Project (Committed & Potential): Potential- Applied for a grant from Innovating Worthy Projects for $5,000- we are awaiting their grant announcements. <\/p>\n
Project Duration: We will have the equipment purchased, staff trained, and fully implemented in our therapy for children within 6 months of grant award notice.
\nGeographical Area Served: Northeast North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota
\nAge Group To Be Served: youth age 18 and under <\/p>\n
Contact Information<\/p>\n
Contact Prefix (Mr,Mrs etc.): Ms.
\nContact First Name: Misty
\nContact Last Name: Lundbohm
\nContact Title: Senior Philanthropy Specialist
\nContact Phone: 2187916547
\nContact Email: misty.lundbohm@altru.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hermanowski Family Foundation Initial Request Form Organization Name: Altru Health System Legal Name (if Different): Also Known As: Mailing Address: 2501 Demers Avenue City: Grand Forks, ND State: North Dakota Postal Code: 58201 Main Phone: 7017805600 Main Fax: Organization Website: altru.org Employer ID Number: 45-0310462 Organization Tax Status: non profit Proposal Information Today’s Date: 3\/19\/2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10382,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10381\/revisions\/10382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hermanowskifoundation.org\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}