Rev gets back on track

Get ready to start your engines! The IU Health Foundation signature event Rev, hosted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), returns this month after being sidelined last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rev raises funds for IU Health trauma and critical care programs statewide. Funds from the event benefit patient care and help provide specialized education for clinical teams. In past years, gifts from supporters have helped supply trauma simulation mannequins, ambulance and emergency preparedness enhancements, and specialized equipment, such as in-room lifts, manual and automatic wheelchairs.

“It’s an exciting comeback, after more than a year of waylaid plans,” says IU Health Foundation Event Director Carol Howard. “We’re thrilled Rev is back on track, and that guests will be back later this summer.”

Now entering its eighth year, the red-carpet event is not IU Health’s only connection to the track. Since the early 1900s, IU Health has had the distinction of caring for people injured at the Speedway. By 1910, IU Health Methodist Hospital doctors and student nurses from the Methodist Hospital School of Nursing were on hand at the track to care for injuries on site ... and have been ever since.

Helping keep that tradition alive is IU Health Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center Nurse Jennifer Burchett. Her experience in caring for patients in their most tenuous and life-threatening moments helped prepare her to become a member of the IndyCar medical team. This year, she’ll be working at the Brickyard 400 and will care for drivers, crews, staff, and fans.

“It’s always exciting to be at the track,” says Jennifer. “Each event is fast-paced, and you never know what’s going to happen. It keeps you on your toes.”

Thanks to IU Health’s expanded footprint at the IMS, this year’s Rev guests will have the opportunity to explore new areas of the track, including Gasoline Alley and Pit Lane, as well other areas of the IMS previously off-limits to guests.

But at the forefront of this year’s event is safety. Following safety measures guided by IU Health Methodist Hospital President Ryan Nagy, MD, and the IU Health infectious disease team, Rev is limiting the capacity of this year’s event to help guests' social distance. In addition, nearly all of the events will occur outdoors, which will allow guests to explore, sample delicious cuisine, and listen to live bands in the open air.

“The funding we raise at Rev makes a difference in the lives of IU Health patients and team members. It also puts IU Health Foundation on the map in our community,” says Howard. “It’s our largest signature event, and we’re hoping this year we’ll raise $1 million for the Foundation.”

While Rev typically is the kickoff to the month of May and the lead-up to the Indy 500, this year, Rev will launch the month of August, and two major upcoming races at the track. Guests can expect to see IndyCar drivers, local and world-renowned chefs, and an amazing lineup of entertainers. New for this year is an on-track art walk, where guests can check out live painting exhibits and works from local artists featuring themes around both health care and racing.

Also new for 2021 is a whole new way to give back. One hundred percent of donations to the recently launched Fueling Rev Chefs & IU Health Frontline Heroes will support Rev chefs and restaurants who stepped up during the height of the pandemic to provide food for frontline healthcare workers. You can join IU Health Foundation in thanking them for their generosity by making a donation.

"The generosity of the donations associated with Rev are tremendously impactful to the care of trauma patients at IU Health and our community," says IU Health Medical Director Emergency Medicine Steven Roumpf, MD. "Those who support Rev help IU Health support statewide education, injury prevention and multiple community outreach initiatives."

Tickets for Rev are now sold out, but you can request to be added to the waitlist by emailing revindy@iuhealth.org.