Henry Ford Health leader makes a planned gift to support personal passion

Doug Clark, Senior Vice President of Corporate Financial Services, in his own words, has been with Henry Ford Health, “a very long time.”

Although he didn’t come from a background in healthcare, what first drew Doug to Henry Ford Health – and what has energized him over the course of his career – was the relentless commitment to serving the community.

“Henry Ford operates like a family. That is not how most businesses operate, and that’s really what has kept me,” Doug said. “What I think holds us together as an organization is that culture. It is that commitment to our communities and that commitment to our employees.”

Having worked in the organization under several CEOs, Doug has seen firsthand Henry Ford Health’s unyielding commitment to diversity, equity, justice and inclusion initiatives.

“The interesting thing is many organizations, when you change leadership at the top, can have some fundamental core shifts in how they operate and how they focus their priorities,” Doug explained. “Yes, we have evolved, but that core commitment to the community, to our people, to providing support to the less fortunate or underserved – that has never wavered.”

To Doug, what sets Henry Ford Health apart from other organizations is precisely that core culture. Integral to that culture is the wide range of initiatives Henry Ford Health supports, making it easy for a donor to fund an area with personal significance to them. Doug aligned his passion with a purpose after he and his spouse were introduced to the Ruth Ellis Center by former CEO of Henry Ford Health, Nancy Schlichting.

The Ruth Ellis Center is a Detroit-area organization that provides social support services for LGBTQ+ young people. In 2016, Henry Ford Health and the Ruth Ellis Center partnered to open the Health and Wellness Center at Ruth Ellis Center’s Clairmount location – integrating primary and behavioral health care into the Center’s residential and support services.

“It’s a program that makes a very big difference in a community that is probably more at-risk today than it was two years ago,” Doug shared. “For all the progress that [they’ve made], they’re still not where they need to be in terms of feeling secure and comfortable in themselves and their communities. And that’s really what motivates us. I don’t know what to do but to keep supporting them and be visible in that support.”

Directed by Maureen Connolly, M.D. as part of the School-Based Health Program, the Health and Wellness Center tackles barriers to care and discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ youth by providing routine checkups, ongoing care for long-term conditions, mental health services, gender affirming care, prescription medicine, and STD testing and treatment all at no cost.

After supporting the Health and Wellness Center for years through recurring paycheck deduction gifts, Doug and his partner decided to bolster this support through a planned gift.

In addition to Doug's regular gifts to the Ruth Ellis Center now, he recommends early estate planning to everyone and shared, "When we last updated our estate plan, we designated a gift that would provide a specific amount for the Health and Wellness Center at Ruth Ellis after our lifetimes."

Doug’s gift will support medical services for the Ruth Ellis Center community.

“If there’s something you’re passionate about, consider where you would want your assets to benefit at the point in time where they’re not benefitting you. It’s literally a sentence in your will and letting the Development Office know that you’ve done it,” said Doug.