A look at businesses honored for helping during the pandemic - First Utah Bank
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A look at businesses honored for helping during the pandemic

Every year, businesses from across the industry sector are honored as Healthcare Heroes, with leaders earning kudos for making the Beehive State a better place to live and work. For this year’s awards, though, the stories all have something in common: ways that companies went the extra mile to ease the concerns and impacts from COVID-19.

Utah Business recently profiled the winners of these annual awards. Their efforts, which showed that the pandemic could be attacked from different angles, made a difference for a wide variety of residents and positively affected everyone in the state.

First Utah Bank has also been working from a position of helping businesses across a variety of fields, partially through providing services that build up and continue to promote any progress made during the coronavirus response. That’s especially true of mobile banking options, which offer convenience and security for a company’s capital and funding.

Doing the best to lessen COVID-19’s impact

Among the larger efforts that were honored were Project Protect, an effort that was launched by Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah Health, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As part of the effort, 50,000 volunteers made 5 million medical-grade masks in order to donate them to caregivers who needed PPE.

“We wish more people could both see and understand the herculean efforts caregivers make every day to provide the safest care possible for patients, including those who have been impacted by the COVID pandemic,” said Dan Liljenquist, Senior Vice President at Intermountain. “We are proud to be part of organizations that recognize what it means to be responsible, contributing members of the community, and give back in many ways both seen and unseen.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Patricia Richards, the retired President and CEO of SelectHealth. She outlined the impact her company made to Utah Business, including ensuring that SelectHealth employees were made to feel secure and safe.

“After quickly setting up work-from-home capability for more than 95 percent of our workforce, we were able to help people by providing accurate information on testing, treatment, and new ways of accessing care through digital and telehealth services,” she said. “We were also able to help individuals and employers find ways to maintain their health care coverage.”

Richards emphasized that making sure employees were in contact with both their leaders and fellow employees for resources was an important part of their efforts. “With the pandemic, we are seeing more anxiety, depression, and substance abuse,” she said. “There are several resources available through employee assistance programs and the emotional support hotline.”

Impacts large and small abound

Some of the efforts that were honored go beyond just keeping health at the forefront during the pandemic. In the Social Services category, the organizers of the Tip Your Server effort were recognized. They include Salt Lake City’s mayor, Erin Mendenhall, business owners Ty and Holly Burrell, and three groups: the Downtown Alliance, the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development, and the Utah Restaurant Association.

Mendenhall said the Tip Your Server effort was a high priority for her administration. “Tip Your Server was an innovative way for us to rally the community to support the people we depend on to keep Salt Lake City fed,” she said. “Food and beverage employees were the first to be laid off and they’ll be some of the last to be rehired.”

Derek Deitsch, Business Management Director from Downtown Alliance, added that Tip Your Server was launched on short notice because partners were on board quickly and willing to take on any role to make it successful. “It is really easy to get caught up in the details and take time to iron everything out, but in emergency situations like a global pandemic, you don’t always have the luxury to wait,” Deitsch said.

Another honoree was Clement Chow, Assistant Professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He was one of the first people in the state to contract COVID-19 and survived some of its more severe symptoms and effects. He decided after recovery to speak out about how it affected him.

“I have tried to use my experience as a survivor to educate those around me and the general public,” Chow told Utah Business. “Facts and figures don’t always inspire, but true life stories can often spur others to do the right thing and protect others from this deadly disease.”

As part of this educational effort, Chow also continued his work to help impact students of color, including work with the state’s Asian Pacific American Advocates to help advance economic and social issues of the state’s Asian population. He also stays active with the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science.

Mobile banking options for Utah businesses 


First Utah Bank is also helping businesses by offering a tool that makes managing cash flow much easier and convenient. A complementary service of First Utah Bank for its business customers, mobile banking makes it easy to view transactions as well as see balances and deposits for a current day. You can also transfer funds between accounts, access Bill Pay, and find any First Utah Bank branches or ATMs throughout the Salt Lake Valley.

It’s also a snap to use our Mobile Deposit service, which can take place from your smartphone with the First Utah Bank app. Just click on the Deposits icon on the Mobile Banking portion of our app, and then follow the easy instructions on the screen. All you have to remember is to endorse each check that is deposited.

Mobile Deposit is also available 24/7, and you will get same-day credit on your accounts if you use it before 6 p.m. MST on a day that the bank is open.

To learn more about the secure online banking options that are available, go to our website or call First Utah Bank at 801-308-2265.