The Massachusetts Medical Society & Alliance Charitable Foundation has awarded 18 grants totaling $234,00 to agencies across the state to support a variety of health and medical services, including mental health, substance abuse, teen health, violence prevention, and care for the uninsured and underinsured.
Central Mass Area Health Education Center, Worcester, $28,500, to support the Mosaic Cultural Complex’s Barbershop Health Network, to reduce health disparities of Latino and African American men in Worcester through education, screening, referral, and access to community and clinical resources.http://mosaicinc.net/
Institute for Community Health, Cambridge, $25,000, to support a community health worker model to connect emergency department patients to primary care providers and insurance and assist patients with the initial primary care visit, submitting insurance applications, and follow through to ensure completion. http://icommunityhealth.org/
Family Services of the Merrimack Valley, Lawrence, $25,000, to support a mindfulness-based curriculum for students ages 12-18 in Lawrence aimed at building emotional resilience and reducing substance abuse. The program will target youth who have demonstrated risk factors for substance use. http://fsmv.org/
Amherst Survival Center, $17,000, to support its Free Health Clinic, which serves more than 500 people in Hampshire and Franklin counties and provides medical care to any individual on a walk-in basis at no cost. The Center was awarded $15,000 in 2013.http://amherstsurvival.org/.
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, $15,000, to support the Family Team, comprised of physicians, nurses, and case managers who provide on-site primary care and preventive services to homeless families and parents and children living in shelters and motels. The Program previously received $10,000 in 2010 to support medical services at the Pine Street Inn Clinic. http://www.bhchp.org/
Community Health Programs, Great Barrington, $15,000, to support behavioral health in the context of primary care and to address the demand for services, the stigmatization of seeking services, and the burden of illness on individuals in Western Massachusetts. The agency received $35,000 in 2013 to outfit its medical van as a mobile ophthalmic office to provide all ages with comprehensive care for eye diseases.http://www.communityhealthprograms.org/
Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires, Great Barrington,$15,000, to support the second year of the Shared Medical Appointment pilot program as a healthcare delivery strategy for VIM programs across the country, as well as to create a template for other types of clinics. VIM has received nine previous grants from the Foundation. http://vimberkshires.org/
Katie Brown Educational Program, Fall River, $15,000, to create a workshop that brings together adult members of the college campus community responsible for guiding, mentoring, and supervising students and train them to recognize the potential of violent behavior and give them a tool kit to enable them to intervene safely to help both victims and perpetrators. This is the fifth grant from the Foundation the agency has received for violence prevention efforts since 2005. http://www.kbep.org/
Family and Community Resources, Brockton, $10,000, for the Medication Management Program for Brockton residents with complex and long standing trauma, many of whom are suffering from major depression, bipolar diagnoses, and post-traumatic stress disorder, including survivors of domestic violence. http://www.fcr-ma.org/
The Sharewood Project, Malden, $10,000, to support this student-operated medical clinic that relies exclusively on volunteers to provide free health services to a diverse and medically underserved population in Greater Boston under the supervision of a volunteer attending physician. The project has received seven previous grants from the Foundation. http://medicine.tufts.edu/Global-and-Local-Engagement/Sharewood
Watertown Public Schools, $10,000, to support a pilot position for an elementary garden coordinator who will assist in sustaining the existing outdoor classrooms and gardens and support a curriculum that links food to culture, health, and the environment. http://www.watertown.k12.ma.us/
Women of Means, Wellesley, $10,000, for the Medical Home Without Walls Elder Care Program, which provides walk-in medical care to homeless women in Boston and reconnects them to primary care and other essential community health resources. The agency has received three previous grants from the Foundation.http://www.womenofmeans.org/
Natick Visiting Nurse Association, $10,000, for the MetroWest Meds Pharmacy Card Program, which helps uninsured clients below the federal poverty line get medications without delay. http://www.natickvna.org/
Father Bill’s & MainSpring, Quincy and Brockton, $7,500, to support a new community-based project to increase access to care for at-risk men and women in Brockton with complex issues including mental health and substance abuse. The agency has received four previous grants since 2009 to provide medical care for homeless men and women. http://helpfbms.org/
MetroWest Free Medical Program, Framingham, $6,000, for outreach to the uninsured Latino population in Marlborough to raise awareness of the agency’s services for those most vulnerable. This is the program’s seventh consecutive grant from the Foundation for medical services. http://www.metrowestfreemedicalprogram.org/
Boston Rescue Mission, $5,000, to support the Stay-in-Bed/Respite Program, designed for homeless individuals who have been hospitalized and require further health care services. http://www.brm.org/
Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Boston, $5,000 to support the Street Outreach Program and Mobile Medical Van, which provide survival aid, harm reduction information, counseling, and health care services to runaway, homeless, and high-risk youth in Greater Boston. A previous grant of $15,000 was awarded to the agency for health care services. http://www.bridgeotw.org/
Rosie’s Place, Boston, $5,000, to support the Community Health Outreach Worker Program, which provides medical and health support for poor women unable to access adequate medical care because of developmental delays, chronic mental illness, or substance abuse. http://rosiesplace.org/
International Health Studies Grants
In October 2014, the Foundation Board approved seven international health studies grants totaling $11,900 to help offset travel and lodging expenses for medical students and residents studying in another country. This is the fourteenth consecutive year that the Foundation has awarded these grants with the overall goal of encouraging international education, particularly focusing on underserved populations. A total of 67 individuals have received this honor.
The 2014-2015 recipients of the International Health Studies Grants and the countries where they will study:
- Prachi Godiwala, UMASS Medical School, Dominican Republic
- Gregory Haman, Harvard Medical School, Tanzania - Reflections on Medicine in Tanzania
- Nichole Starr, Boston University School of Medicine, Ethiopia - Barriers to Surgical Access in Ethiopia: a Clinical and Research Experience
- Geoffrey Anderson, M.D., General Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Uganda
- Cynthia So-Armah, M.D., Internal Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Mexico
- Sarah Napoe, M.D., Obstetrics/Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Ghana - Obstetric and Gynecologic Care Barriers in Ghana
- Noah Rosenberg, M.D., Family Medicine, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Nicaragua
