The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has announced grants totaling $10.3 million to two Nevada healthcare systems to expand access to life-saving care for patients suffering from acute heart and lung failure.

The grants will support medical services using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a state-of-the-art procedure that serves as a bridge to patients in cardiac and pulmonary failure who need transplants. Recipients include Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno (more than $3.5 million), which will launch the area’s first ECMO program, reducing the need for patients to travel out of the community for treatment; and Dignity Health-St. Rose Siena Hospital in Henderson (more than $5.1 million), which will dedicate four ICU beds to ECMO services. In addition, Dignity Health was awarded $1.7 million in support of its cardiac catheterization laboratories and vascular disease imaging services.

In 2023, Helmsley awarded $1.2 million to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas to accelerate its ECMO program.

“At Renown Health, we are always proud to incorporate today’s leading-edge medical innovations into our toolbelt of care,” said Renown Health president Brian Erling. “As a health system, our top priority is improving the lives of the people who entrust us with their care. The ECMO program will ensure advanced care for our region’s sickest patients.”