2020 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT

Community impact

Helping people reach their full health potential

We believe every person deserves the opportunity to lead a healthy life, but many people do not have an equal chance because of the social and environmental conditions they live in. These conditions are known as social determinants of health—and the COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the inequities and lack of support systems like never before.

Volunteerism and employee giving

We believe having a high sense of social responsibility begins from the inside out. That’s why we encourage our employees to go out into their communities to volunteer. And we’re creating opportunities to help them do just that. From backyard giving to disaster relief, our volunteer opportunities are diverse.

In 2020 we introduced CSRconnect, an online platform for employee volunteerism and charitable giving. This resource helps employees find volunteer opportunities, record their volunteer hours, and track their impact. Employees can also sign up for Medline’s Service Corps—made up of employees who have committed to furthering the company’s Social Responsibility efforts across Global Health, Community Impact and Sustainability. 2020 volunteer activities ranged from garden harvests to mask distribution events to virtual opportunities.

Our employees were also generous with their money. In June of 2020, Medline donated $1 million to four organizations working to advance racial justice in the United States—Black Lives Matter, The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Urban League and United Negro College Fund. In addition to the donation, we offered an employee gift-matching campaign, committing to match up to a total of $250,000 to the four charities. Through the campaign, an additional was $63,856 was raised to support the Black community and advance social justice.

Fighting food insecurity with the Medline garden harvest

Reliable access to healthy food has long been a struggle for millions of Americans, and COVID-19 only made the struggle worse. At the height of the pandemic, one in eight Americans reported experiencing food insecurity.

To help ensure more people have access to nutritious food that fuels a healthy life, employees harvested more than 550 pounds of fresh produce from our fruit and vegetable garden in Northfield, Illinois. The harvest was donated to two local pantries: the Northfield Township Food Pantry, a nonprofit currently serving 830 families in Illinois, and Meals on Wheels Northeastern Illinois, which delivers nutritious meals to homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities.

Employees donated non-perishable items alongside the produce and, prior to the pandemic, we were donating fresh and prepared food items from our cafeteria to a local food pantry on a weekly basis.

“Everything that the Northfield Township Food Pantry distributes is donated or paid for with donated funds, so it’s absolutely critical that places like Medline support us the way that they do.”

– Jill Brickman, Township Supervisor, Northfield Township Food Pantry

Medline CARES—addressing social determinants of health

Medline is committed to taking care of its employees, customers and the community at large. Giving back to the communities where our employees live and work is intrinsic to our century-long history and to our vision forward.

Under-resourced communities, already disproportionately affected by social determinants of health, became even more vulnerable due to COVID-19 and were further impacted during the racial unrest spreading throughout these communities.

In 2020 we introduced our Medline CARES program, which works to address the issues affecting our communities by investing crucial financial and human resources, stimulating health equity and improving population health. This is and will always be our ongoing commitment to our communities.

In 2020, significant resources were invested in communities nationwide through Medline CARES initiatives.

Food insecurity—contributed a total of $52,500 to 12 organizations addressing food insecurity.

Economic stability—contributed a total of $67,500 to eight organizations that provide emergency relief and safety net programs to vulnerable populations.

Education support—contributed a total of $19,000 to three organizations addressing challenges for students and their families.

Health and healthcare—contributed a total of $17,500 to four organizations addressing access to healthcare.

Social and community—contributed a total of $15,000 to two organizations addressing social cohesion in communities.

Donating masks to those in need

The Medline Wash-and-Wear Community Mask Project provided 100,000 reusable facemasks to help Black and Brown communities that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

In collaboration with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, YMCA Metropolitan Chicago and Knowality, the initiative was created to help provide greater access to basic personal protective equipment.

Chicagoans across twelve neighborhoods picked up Medline PPE to help keep themselves and their communities safe.

Awarding grants to uplift communities

Across our nation, Americans face a wide range of uncertainties and health inequities; and, now more than ever, these communities need our support. Medline’s Community Impact Grant Program is investing resources to help address prevalent health challenges, stimulate health equity and improve population health in low-resource areas—awarding financial support to non-profit organizations that share our priorities.

Food insecurity

Common Pantry
Curt’s Cafe
Feeding GA Families (pictured at right)
Northern Illinois Food Bank

Student and family support

Communities in Schools of Douglas County
Center for Enriched Living

Access to care

Cradles to Crayons
Eldercare Lake County
Glida’s Club South Florida
Rutgers University Foundation
Susan G. Komen Oregon and SW Washington

Social cohesion

A Safe Place
Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Lake County

Advancing the causes Medline employees care about

Our people lead the way in improving the health and well-being of every community we touch. That’s why we take time to recognize them and support the causes they care most about. We do this through our Employee Recognition Program, which celebrates employees making an impact in their community through volunteerism or fundraising. Because of COVID-19, these acts of kindness are appreciated now more than ever.

In 2020, we recognized 11 employees for going above and beyond in their community and made a charitable donation to the organization on their behalf. In all, we gave $30,000.