Dominican Hospital Awards Nearly $180,000 in Grants to Six Local Nonprofits
SANTA CRUZ, CA (Jan. 31, 2019) – Dignity Health Dominican Hospital has awarded nearly $180,000 in grants to six local nonprofit organizations through its annual Community Grants Program. Each nonprofit was recognized for its commitment to providing innovative resources and support to improve quality of life for the Santa Cruz County residents most in need.
“One of the biggest health care challenges facing any community is creating a continuum of care to assist our patients outside the hospital,” said Dominican Hospital President Nanette Mickiewicz, MD. “Each of these partner organizations is led by a team of experts, and collectively they are making meaningful and measurable change to ensure that everyone in our community receives the care they need.”
Grants were awarded to the following organizations:
- Community Bridges: $25,000 for the Wellness Navigation Project, which will increase patient access to healthy food, nutrition education, and other services identified during their intake process, and will increase clients’ understanding about their health and how to stay healthy. The Wellness Navigation Project will offer mobile health screenings, a lifestyle health class, care transition referrals, and food pantry distribution.
- Dientes Community Dental Care: $20,000 in support of a collaboration between Dientes, Homeless Persons Health Project, and Santa Cruz Homeless Services Center to reduce Emergency Department visits for people experiencing homelessness. The project will provide dental screenings, oral health education, referrals to care, and dental treatment, with the goal of delivering a seamless continuum of care and a dental home for regular preventative care to improve oral health and avoid dental emergencies.
- Homeless Services Center: $30,000 for the Recuperative Care Center (RCC) to support those experiencing homelessness in Santa Cruz County. The RCC provides 24-hour, seven-days-a-week shelter services with case management, meals, housekeeping, and security. Primary care, medication management support, clinical social work, and additional case management is provided by the Homeless Persons Health Project. Their goal is to support full recovery, ongoing primary care, and a transition to temporary or permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.
- Janus of Santa Cruz: $50,000 for Project Unite, which works to reduce the number of substance use disorder-related repeat visits to the Emergency Department and inpatient stays. Project Unite accomplishes this goal by placing Janus Care Coordination staff on site at Dominican Hospital to assist social workers and medical personnel in screening and discharging patients to substance use disorder treatment resources.
- Monarch Services: $25,000 in support of the Ending the Game: Human Trafficking program, a collaboration with partner organizations and social service agencies to build community capacity to prevent human trafficking and assist survivors. Through its comprehensive case management model, Monarch Services will ensure a continuum of care so that clients’ needs are met in a holistic manner.
- RotaCare Bay Area: $25,103 for the all-volunteer Santa Cruz RotaCare Free Clinic, which provides free health care weekly to the most vulnerable and underserved populations as a part of a larger continuum of community care. Every Tuesday night, RotaCare volunteers manually transform the dining and meeting rooms of a Live Oak area school facility into an acute care medical clinic.
Dominican’s community grants were awarded at a luncheon event in January. Since the early 1990s community organizations have received more than $2.5 million in grants from Dominican Hospital to promote the health and wellness of Santa Cruz County.
About Dominican Hospital
Dignity Health Dominican Hospital has been caring for the Santa Cruz County community for 75 years. Dominican offers emergency services and is a Certified Stroke Center. Dominican’s services include the only comprehensive Cancer Center in Santa Cruz County, a Total Joint Replacement program, advanced neurological and endoscopic services, and an expert heart and vascular team treating some of the most complex cardiac cases in the Monterey Bay area. Dominican has received national recognition for superior patient safety, cardiac care, and stroke treatment from Healthgrades, a leading provider of comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Dominican also has received several awards for environmental excellence.
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Publish date:
Thursday, January 31, 2019