The Georgia Healthy Family Alliance (GHFA) awarded four Community Health Grant Award applicants $20,000 in the third cycle of 2020 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 2021 grants is February 1, 2021. Visit www.georgiahealthyfamilyalliance.org/grants/ for more information or to download the application. Third Cycle 2020 Community Health Grant Recipients are:
Adult Disability Medical Home “Get Fit & Be Healthy Cookbook and Health Guide” – $5,000 Sponsored by Andrea Videlefsky, MD
The Get Fit and Be Healthy program has been a hallmark health and wellness program offered by ADMH to individuals with developmental disabilities. Over the past three years the ADMH has expanded their patient population to include multiple complex developmental disabilities including Autism, Fragile X, Microcephaly, and Cerebral Palsy. Through interactive group visits with peers along with caregiver support, this program will provide continued and expanded health services to include both ADMH patients and other eligible individuals in the community… The program provides an opportunity for individuals with developmental disabilities to actively engage in a nutrition and fitness education program to develop lifelong habits for improving and maintaining health and wellness. Using the tools and strategies from previous cohorts to develop a creative and long-lasting outcome, a cookbook/health manual incorporating health and fitness information with recipes learned in the program will be produced. The manual will be participant driven, developed in workgroups based on the three GET FIT program components Health Tools, Fitness Training and Healthy Recipes.
“Warrior Centric Healthcare Foundation & Veteran Medical Neighborhood Joining Forces to Mitigate Impact of Social Determinants of Health” – $5,000 – Sponsored by Loretta Hicks, MD
There are 18.8 million veterans living in the U.S. today, 7.6 percent of the population. They are predominantly male although the number of female veterans is on the rise. Georgia is home to over 636,725 Veterans, 69,836 active duty members and 27,557 National Guards and Reservists and together their family members total over 1.9 million. There are just under 75, 000 females and 563,253 male Veterans. In addition, figures 1 thru 3 provide a graphic of the age, ethnicity, and era of service.
The goal and objective of the Warrior Centric Health Foundation – Veteran Medical Neighborhood Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) technology platform project is to provide an efficient, effective, and economic mechanism for family physicians to address the SDoH facing Veterans and their families who are in their care. This tool will be available to all members (physicians and other disciplines) of the GAFP. It will also be available to any patients they direct to the site. Once the integration is complete, they will be able to access the tool through the WCHF website at no cost to them or their patients.
Mercy Health “Flu Prevention & Treatment for the Underserved Project” – $5,000 – Sponsored by Mitch Cook, DO
Mercy Health Center provides quality, whole-person healthcare at no cost to people who are low-income and uninsured. Patients served are 18-64 years old and live at or below 150% of the federal poverty guideline. Mercy serves 6 counties which include Barrow, Clarke, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Madison, and Jackson. The patient demographics are as follows: 52% Caucasian, 23% African American, 22% Hispanic, 3% other and 63% of patients are female and average age of all patients is 45 years old. In 2019, Mercy served 1,448 unique patients for a total of 11,447 visits. Grant funds will help provide flu screening and treatment for the uninsured population served by Mercy Health Center in Athens/Clarke County and the 5 surrounding counties. Funds will be used to purchase 150 flu shots to protect patients from becoming ill. Funds will also be used purchase 100 flu tests that will be used to properly diagnose patients if they become ill. An additional $1000 is requested for the purchase of gift cards to be used to purchase Tamiflu. Tamiflu is used to treat symptoms caused by the flu virus and helps make the symptoms less severe and shortens the recovery time by 1-2 days.
DEO Clinic “Telemedicine and Coaching Calls to Overcome COVID Concerns While Monitoring Chronic Health Conditions” – $5,000 – Sponsored by Raymond Bedgood, MD
The phenomenal growth of the clinic is being stretched further in every direction by the loss of employment/insurance during COVID 19 (which is increasing patient numbers), and decreased availability of volunteers who must guard against infection. The clinic believes that innovation is the key to overcoming COVID and are thus seeking funds to utilize telemedicine and other creative solutions to keep patients on track, and to keep volunteers safely engaged with the work that they love during this pandemic.
The clinic has long-term volunteers who need to treat patients from home to eliminate the possibility of exposure to COVID. The patient population is low income, not all of them will have technology or access to the internet for participating in telemedicine. Patients who have the technological equipment can accept telemedicine calls at home. Patients who do not have smartphones or computers or internet can visit the DEO Clinic, have their vital signs checked by staff and use the clinic computers to have a telemedicine appointment with a provider who is volunteering from home. Patients who have smart phones but need wi-fi access will be directed to free wi-fi locations around the region if they wish to participate in telemedicine. DEO Clinic will provide patients with simple monitoring equipment to use at home. Blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, blood glucose meters, and scales with BMI measurements will be provided according to the patient’s most critical chronic conditions.