The Georgia Healthy Family Alliance (GHFA) awarded Community Health Grant award applicants $15,000 in third cycle 2022 grants. Grant awards were made to GAFP member affiliated community organizations that support GHFA program priorities including underserved populations and programs that promote healthy practices. The application deadline for first cycle 2023 grants is February 1st. Visit www.georgiahealthyfamilyalliance.org/grants/ for more information or to download the application.
Third cycle 2022 Community Health Grant recipients are:
- “Stephens County Hospital Crash Cart Standardization Plan,” Jennifer Utley, MD Toccoa
Stephens County Hospital (SCH) has developed a standardization plan addressing the lack of uniformity of nursing equipment throughout their facility. SCH is a 96-bed, acute care facility located in a rural county of 26,000+ but which serves the contiguous five counties as well. This funding will allow SCH to purchase two Emergency “crash” carts to be used exclusively in the Emergency Department (ED). The ED consistently sees 1,000 plus patients monthly but SCH ability to treat each one quickly and efficiently is dependent upon the tools available. Currently, the staff in the ED is using makeshift carts fashioned from metal toolboxes from a local home improvement store. Due to the geographical area, valuable time is often spent en route to SCH.
- “Healthy Families in Northeast Georgia,” Donald Fordham, MD Demorest,
Family Resource Center of Northeast Georgia (FRC) is expanding the reach of home visiting programs in both Rabun and White County to underserved populations and improving maternal and child health outcomes. This program is targeting young teen mothers/pregnant teenagers. As an affiliate with Healthy Families America (HFA) the program provides parental guidance and coaching in the home of the participant and includes services such as pre-and post-natal care assessment, developmental screenings, postpartum depression screening, child development, and parenting education from birth to 3 years of age. The Healthy Families Program began in Habersham County in 2022. This funding will provide similar programming for home visits for teen mothers/parents in Rabun and White Counties. The project goal is to provide support, education, and advocacy for teen mothers so that the children within the homes receive immunizations, check-ups, meet development markers, as well as provide parent education, life skills, and resources for the mothers/parents to ensure the child/children receive nurturing care from their family that will lead to a healthy, long and successful life. The target number of weekly in-home visits per county will be 10 teen mothers enrolled in the program. For both counties that is a total of 20 teen mothers/parents.
- “Improving Access To Primary Health Care With Medical Interpretation Services,” Esther Kim, MD Clarkston
Medical interpretation by trained interpreters is critical to ensuring equitable access to affordable primary health care for children and adults in Clarkston and the surrounding communities. Over half of Clarkston, Ga. residents were born outside the United States and one-quarter of the community has limited English proficiency. This cultural and linguistic diversity creates significant health care access barriers – leading to low utilization of preventive services, unmanaged acute conditions, low medication and treatment plan adherence, and exacerbation of chronic conditions. Ethnē Health’s medical interpretation services ensure all Clarkston-area residents can receive high-quality primary care in their preferred language. Through this service, the clinic is able to increase health care access and ensure better health outcomes for patients. Due to a variety of community-wide economic barriers, more patients than ever need affordable primary care. The increase in patients seeking care at Ethnē has led to a 36% increase in medical interpretation services over the past six months. Ethnē expects to provide up to 1,400 medical interpretation calls in more than 30 languages for patients with household incomes between 50% – 200% of the Federal Poverty Level during the grant period.
Even if you do not have a community project that could benefit from a grant, please consider making a contribution so that the Alliance can continue to support these vital community projects. All donations are tax deductible. Alliance contributions can be made easily online at www.georgiahealthyfamilyalliance.org/donate/ or by contacting Alexis Klima at aklima@gafp.org or calling (800) 392-3841.