Pulse3 Endowment for Community Cardiovascular Health

In 2007, the physicians at the Michigan CardioVascular Institute reorganized its foundation - the MCVI Foundation - from one that solely performed medical research to one focused on providing public education, prevention and treatment programs to improve cardiac health in the communities served by the practice. In June 2013, the MCVI Foundation announced a new name and an important change to its status as a charitable organization. Pulse3 Foundation (pronounced “pulse three”) was born, and the foundation changed from a private foundation to a public charity, as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. This new name focused on the “power of three.” The average human heart beats about three billion times in a lifetime. There are three areas that Pulse3 built its efforts around: living, learning and lifesaving. There are three communities – Bay, Midland and Saginaw, as well as the entire Great Lakes Bay Region – that are coming together in unity to address a health issue that affects us all. Facing difficult financial headwinds fostered by the pandemic, a change in structure was needed to ensure sustainability and long-term mission success. The organization gifted its remaining assets to the Central Michigan University College of Medicine and, in so doing, created the Pulse3 Endowment for Cardiovascular Health at CMU.