Caregiver Companion Program
Contact: Sister Veronica Baumgartner, CSJ, Director, 765.675.1863
Funding: Two-year grant - $50,000 per year
This interfaith ministry was founded in response to a growing need for practical support for caregivers of the sick, frail and disabled who wish to remain in their own homes. It provides non-duplicative serves to people who are not helped by existing agencies or who need assistance beyond that being provided by social and health agencies. These services include respite care, visiting, grocery shopping, light housekeeping, transportation and simple repairs, and are provided without cost to those who receive them. Caregiver Companion gives essential respite to caregivers, who, for their physical and mental health, need time away from their unremitting responsibility.
Mental Health Services for the Underserved
Organization / Location: Baltimore Medical System, Baltimore, Md.
Funding: $30,450 one-time grant; may reapply in 2009
Contact: Pamela Bohrer Brown, Director of Programs, 410.558.4946
There is a great need within the Hispanic community in Baltimore for mental health services. The Mental Health Services for the Underserved program provides the opportunity for Spanish-speaking immigrants to receive mental health services at Baltimore Medical System at St. Agnes Hospital. The program is conducted through a bilingual mental health provider and a partnership with Adelante Familia which provides support and abuser intervention services to Spanish-speaking victims of domestic violence.
Physicians Who Care Program
Organization / Location: St. John Health, Warren, Mich.
Funding: Two-year grant - $50,000 per year
Contact: Karen Beger, Corporate Director Community Health, 586.753.1483
The Physicians Who Care program is a network of specialty physicians that have volunteered to provide healthcare to uninsured clients from St. John Health’s network of Primary Care Clinics for the uninsured. The program is designed to ensure that a continuum of care exists for the “working poor” in the communities that St. John Health serves. Each physician pledges to see a self-defined number of patients per year. Currently more than 450 physicians are registered in a common database using a Web-based specialty referral network and the patient load is spread equally among physicians participating in the program.
Integrative Mind/Body Program for Adult Torture Survivors
Organization / Location: Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma, St. Louis, Mo.
Funding: $20,500 one-time grant
Contact: Kristin Bulin, Executive Director, 314.541.4610
St. Louis has become one of the largest new resettlement homes for immigrants and refugees nationally, and has become the largest resettlement city for Bosnians. The Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma (CSTWT) welcomes children and adults from countries that are experiencing unrest. Most individuals who receive services from CSTWT have fled violence, war and oppression and a significant number have experienced torture or have had a loved one tortured or killed. CSTWT facilitates the healing of those who are carrying profound symptoms of grief, post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety through the use of therapy, psycho-educational groups and other therapeutic activities.
Homeless Medical Clinic
Organization / Location: Opportunity Center for the Homeless, El Paso, Texas
Funding: Second year funding - $40,000
Contact: Ray Tullius, Executive Director, 915.577.0357
The Opportunity Center (OC) for the Homeless consists of a shelter for those who are homeless and six residential centers for the elderly, single women, mentally ill, veterans, and men and women in school/work programs. It exists for all those who are homeless without distinction of race, ethnic origin, language spoken, or religious beliefs, and regardless of mental, drug and alcohol problems. The primary goal of the clinic is to provide the best system of outpatient health and medical care possible to those who are homeless in the community while reducing or eliminating the needs for costly emergency transit and hospital visits.
Health Care Safety Net for Detroit’s Uninsured Poor
Organization / Location: St. Frances Cabrini Clinic of Most Holy Trinity Church, Detroit, Mich.
Funding: Second year funding - $20,000
Contact: Sister Lenora Benda, CSJ, Clinical Nurse Manager, 313.961.7863
Cabrini Clinic is the oldest free medical clinic in the United States. Since 1950, this volunteer-staffed, primary care clinic has provided free healthcare to thousands of uninsured, poor residents of Metro Detroit, using a holistic approach to meet their primary healthcare needs. Most of the patients served have chronic diseases and cannot afford the care and medications they need to stay healthy and out of the Emergency Department. The grant will be used to expand the clinic space by relocating the clinic to the former Parish Convent Center. Service capacity and staffing are currently limited because of space constraints. Expansion will improve access to education, prevention and treatment without charge for those who fall through the medical-social safety net.
