Sandra Muthyala is the new Advancement Director for Exalta Health.
The faith-based nonprofit offers routine and urgent medical and dental care to children, adults and seniors with unemployment, lack of insurance and other financial factors not a barrier for service (fees are reduced based on household income and number of members supported by that income).
Muthyala joins Exalta Health from Ada Bible Church where she served as the women’s ministry director at the Kentwood campus. She has also worked as a financial counselor for Mercy Health Saint Mary’s and spent two decades as a missionary in Uruguay, where she is from originally, and India, her husband’s home country. She is bi-lingual in English and Spanish.
“I was born and raised in Uruguay,” she said, “and became a Christ-follower when I was 19 and going to medical school. Becoming a child of God changed my life totally.” Part of that change was moving to Grand Rapids (the people who led her to Christ were from the city) and enrolling at Grace Bible College, where she met her husband.
From there she began what she described as “a lifetime of work following God’s calling,” with the position at Exalta Health fitting nicely into that following, she added.
In her role at Exalta Health, she will direct fund development, marketing and communications. The work is critical as Exalta Health relies heavily on donations to provide its services.
In 2019, Exalta Health served 1,100 medical patients, 1,200 dental patients and provided almost 10,000 total services. Almost 75 percent of its income came from individuals, foundations, corporations, churches, special events and donated services.
Though COVID-19 has changed Exalta Health’s work in the short term (the clinic isn’t currently seeing any patients other than urgent-care patients in person but is relying on tele-medicine and other methods to serve its clients), Muthyala knows that it is more important than ever for the organization to connect with donors and other key audiences as it waits for the time when it can again resume normal operations.
“Exalta Health has a beautiful mission statement,” she said. “We want to reflect the spirit of Christ as we provide compassionate, accessible healthcare that promotes wellness for all. We treat the whole person too. We have doctors and dentists on staff and doctors and dentists who volunteer, but we also have a chaplain and social workers. I think we are seeing now more than ever how important a place like Exalta Health can be. Working with donors to make sure Exalta Health doesn’t just survive but thrives is something I am so eager to be part of.”
New Exalta Health president Dan Takens agreed.
“Sandra has a love for Christ,” he said, “and a desire to use her talents to help others. As a missionary, she and her husband successfully built relationships with donors and churches to support their work. At Exalta Health, donors provide the majority of our funding and that is even more true during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are grateful to have her on board, and we believe that her highly developed communication and relationship skills will only enhance positive relationships with our donors.”
