OrthoWorx Seeks Match For $3.5 Million Grant
Some time during the period from 1895 and today, you’ve been impacted by the Warsaw-region orthopedic industry cluster. For more than 100 years, the orthopedic industry grew and thrived in our region and tens of thousand of individuals built lives and careers here or had an association that contributed to their success.
If you are or were in orthopedics, the Warsaw region is in you.
In 2009 a new non-profit, OrthoWorx, was formed so that the region retains its stature as the Orthopedic Capital of the World. Competitive pressures, the new medical device excise tax, health care reform and worldwide regulatory snarls have made the orthopedic market more challenging than it has ever been.
As a result, companies have to look for every competitive advantage. OrthoWorx is working hard to assure that those advantages — a skilled workforce, a region that is inviting to new recruits, an environment of innovation and entrepreneurship — all can be found here so companies and individuals can continue to grow and thrive here.
The benefits to the broader community are obvious: Today, approximately 6,800 employees work directly for an orthopedic company or supplier. Almost as many are employed by companies that owe a share of their business to the economic activity generated by the companies and their employees. That’s more than 40 percent of Kosciusko County’s workforce attributable to the orthopedic industry.
OrthoWorx was recently granted $4 million by Lilly Endowment Inc. to continue the work it began in 2009. Along with that up-front amount, the endowment is offering the community the opportunity for another $3.5 million, if OrthoWorx can raise a like amount from companies and individuals in or associated with orthopedics.
“Many of us have benefited and continue to benefit in different ways because of the orthopedic industry cluster,” said Tammy Allen, director of marketing for OrthoWorx, “and we have an interest in seeing it continue to thrive here in our region. The Lilly Endowment match opportunity is a rare chance to double the impact of the charitable funds you commit by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Orthopedics Capital Foundation in support of OrthoWorx.”
For more information about OrthoWorx initiatives, click HERE. To make a pledge or donation online, click HERE.