The Massachusetts Medical Society & Alliance Charitable Foundation has awarded 15 grants totaling $215, 050 to 15 organizations across the state to support health and medical services for homeless, uninsured, and underinsured individuals and families, programs promoting healthy lifestyles, treatment for individuals with substance abuse , and programs addressing teen dating violence and infectious diseases.
Amherst Survival Center: $22,000 to support the Free Health Clinic, which provides high quality medical care to any individual on a walk-in basis for no cost. More specifically, this grant will support the Clinic Coordinator who will continue to operate the free health clinic (recruit and schedule providers, oversee the functioning of the bi-weekly clinic, offer patient navigation services, schedule auxiliary health services) and oversee the Health Needs Fund.
Boston Health Care for the Homeless: $25,000 to expand the hours and services provided at the Southampton Street Shelter to ensure that patients are able to receive an accessible, trusted, and consistent source of high quality health care that addresses both their urgent health concerns and preventive needs to avoid late-stage diagnoses and preventable health crises.
Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest: $7,500 to support the Triple Play program at the Framingham Clubhouse. The program demonstrates how eating right, keeping fit and forming positive relations add up to a healthy lifestyle for Club members.
Boston University School of Medicine – Bridging Gaps in Care: $5,000 to support medical students and their physician mentors bringing preventative screenings, health education, and social supports to low-income, medically underserved residents of subsidized elderly housing in Boston. Learn more.
Family Van: $20,000 to further efforts to develop multi-sector collaborations that bring resources to the community, addressing the medical and social factors prohibiting clients from taking care of themselves and their families. More specifically, a partnership with Urban Edge will look at the impact of social services on health outcomes; while a monthly site will be established at the El Salvador Consulate, bringing the Family Van’s services to a new population.
Father Bill’s & MainSpring: $10,000 to support the MainSpring Outreach Project, a collaborative community-based project to engage at-risk Brockton homeless men and women, many with complex issues including mental health and substance abuse, who are living outside, and link them with targeted services including early detection, health promotion, and increased access to medical care. More specifically funding will be directed to support the Triage Outreach Worker position.
Gavin Foundation: $12,000 to support the Enrollment Assistance Support and Information project at the South Boston District Court and expansion to the Dorchester Municipal Court. The EASI project helps clients and their family members through the barriers of starting treatment for substance abuse.
Health Care Without Walls: $20,000 to support year one of the Bridges to Moms pilot program, which seeks to improve health outcomes and maternal bonding among homeless pregnant and post-partum women receiving care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Latino Health Insurance Program: $12,500 to support the Lung and Heart Improvement Project, this includes hypertension screening and individualized cardia risk assessment, smoking cessation, and culturally competent health education and behavioral health improvement strategies for uninsured and underinsured low income Latinos in MetroWest.
MetroWest Free Medical Program: $10,000 to support a pilot medical-legal partnership, which will systematically screen for and address the social-economic needs of patients and optimize their eligibility and utilization of public benefits and community resources to improve health.
RESPOND, Inc.: $11,505 to support the Teen Dating Violence Program, a preventative program providing students in middle and high school with access to the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to advocate for safer relationships and seek help when necessary.
Rosie’s Place: $10,000 to support the Community Health Outreach Worker Program which provides medical/health support for poor women who are unable to access adequate medical care, because of developmental delays, chronic mental illness and/or substance abuse.
The Sharewood Project: $10,000 to support this student-run free health care clinic in Malden which provides free urgent care services to medically underserved people and families.
Sociedad Latina: $12,500 to support the Health Educators in Action program and help to expand the Take Care of Yourself sexually transmitted infection education and prevention activities for low-income Latino youth ages 14-24.
VIM Berkshires: $25,000 to support the Non-Opioid Pain Management Program, a program which uses acupuncture, therapeutic massage, behavioral health therapy, and nutrition counseling to address chronic and episodic pain and prevent the use of opioids.
International Health Studies Grants
In October 2015 the Foundation Board approved nine international health studies grants totaling $15,000 to help offset travel and lodging expenses for medical students and residents studying in another country. This is the fifteenth consecutive year that the Foundation has awarded these grants with the overall goal of encouraging international education, particularly focusing on underserved populations.
- Marguerite Basilico – Harvard Medical School – Malawi
- Rebecca Lumsden – UMASS Medical School – Kenya
- Laura Santoso – UMASS Medical School – Dominican Republic
- Hisham Yousif – Harvard Medical School – Jerusalem
- Kristin Alves, MD – Harvard Orthopedic Surgery – Uganda
- Edward Clune, MD – UMASS Medical Center Anesthesiology – Malawi
- Cindy Vargas Cruz, MD – UMASS Medical Center Psychiatry – Costa Rica
- James Keck, MD – Carney Family Medicine – Madagascar
- Micalela Oswusu, MD – MGH/McLean Psychiatry – Ghana
