MMS and Alliance Charitable Foundation 2010-2011 Grants

Community Action & Care for the Medically Underinsured

• AIDS Project Worcester - $32,000 to expand the organization's current free and anonymous HIV testing services to include testing for sexually transmitted infections.
• Amherst Survival Center - $15,000 to support a part time clinic coordinator who will work with patients to connect them with primary care and specialty services, arrange transportation, serve as an advocate, and keep track of appointments and medications.
• Duffy Health Center - $7,500 to expand the Office-Based Opioid Treatment Program started in 2004; which provides a comprehensive patient support system during the long transition from addiction to recovery.
• Father Bill's & MainSpring - $15,000 to support the MainSpring Clinic Project in Brockton which provides basic medical care, tests, and screenings, and helps patients with insurance and referrals to primary care physicians.
• Metro West Free Medical Program - $25,000 to expand services provided by volunteer physicians at the Sudbury and Framingham locations to include routine screening for chronic disease screening and to improve the health literacy of patients.
• Open Door Free Medical Program - $7,500 to support expansion of its physician-led volunteer initiative to include a mental health component.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest- $10,000 to support the agency's Triple Play Program for Marlborough youth in grades 2-7. The program demonstrates how eating right, keeping fit and forming positive relationships lead to a healthy lifestyle.
• Hearth, Inc. - $5,000 to support the agency's Outreach Program that provides housing search, placement, and stabilization services to homeless elders; and prevention services to elders at risk of homelessness.
• Lynn Community Health Center - $25,000 to increase the health education and outreach efforts of its Teen Health Ambassadors in the areas of pregnancy prevention, STD/HIV education and prevention, domestic violence assessment and education, and access to health care services.
• Milford Regional Medical Center - $7,500 to support efforts of volunteer medical staff and community partners in its tuberculosis program.
• The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship - $25,000 to support the Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program, one of ten such programs in the U.S. The Fellows Program supports students in medicine and other health professions who are engaged in community service projects that promote health and improve access to health care for underserved populations.

International Health Studies

• Oluwatoyin Ajayi, MD - a second-year resident in the Boston University Department of Family Medicine, will support doctors and nurses in health centers in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as they deliver much-needed medical care to local residents. Additionally, she will conduct surveys and focus groups among parents of young children to better understand health-seeking behavior within the community and gain a better understanding of the barriers to health care.
• David Bayne - a fourth-year medical student at Harvard Medical School, will work at Partners in Health surgical center in Cange, Haiti. He will help coordinate surgical treatment between the visiting and onsite surgical teams and do post-operative follow-ups with patients.
• Catalina Hoyos, MD - a third-year resident in the University of Massachusetts Pediatric Residency Program, will serve at the JFK Medical Center, one of the few hospitals in Monrovia, Liberia, where child can get free care. Dr. Hoyos will provide assistance on the 25-bed pediatric ward, the 5-crib NICU, and at the pediatric outpatient clinic, which cares for between 60 and 80 children each day. Additionally, she will help establish a chronic illness clinic for children.
• Rose Leonard - a fourth-year medical student at Harvard Medical School, will work at the Community Health Clinic in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. In Guatemala, cervical cancer accounts for nearly 60% of cancer cases among women, according to the National Cancer Institute. Rose will pilot a "single visit screen-and-treat" method, which has proven simple, safe, and effective in developing countries. With the assistance of a trained expert, she will teach the local women's health care workers the technique for cervical cancer screening.