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Friday,
May 16, 2003 — Time: 8:35:59 AM
EST
Grant
to help hospitals reach out to community
By David Clucas, dclucas@mariettatimes.com
A $50,000 grant from the Sisters of St. Joseph is helping Marietta Memorial Hospital spread health education to numerous area churches.
The grant expands the hospital's existing Health Ministries program by hiring a two-year outreach coordinator to visit the churches and develop stronger partnerships.
"Marietta Memorial Hospital has a long-standing commitment to health care education," hospital foundation director Jacky Miner said. "If a person can stay healthy on ( his or her ) own, they won't have to make as many trips to the hospital."
Miner said the newly hired coordinator should be touring the churches in about six months. The coordinator will be gathering ideas from parishioners and also set up free health related screenings. She said the hospital's health education with churches will focus on holistic health, which includes the mind, spirit and body.
Miner said the churches could provide a more comfortable setting for some people who feel shy about going to the hospital. After the two-year grant expires, Miner said the hospital plans to continue the program.
The grant to the hospital is part of $450,000 in donations to 18 different Mid-Ohio Valley organizations from the Sisters of St. Joseph Charitable Fund in Parkersburg.
The fund's assistant director Ann Frost said the goal of each grant is to encourage community collaboration to improve the quality of life in the area. Many of the grants are called "challenge grants," which are issued if the community or organization can raise matching funds.
"We rarely solely fund a project because we want to see the community involved in supporting the project," Frost said.
The $7,000 challenge grant to Belpre Middle School is challenging community members to raise the same amount of money for a walking track and fitness stations. About $6,000 has been raised and the school ground track will be open for community use.
In Palmer Township near Waterford, a $10,800 grant will help pay for the installation of a heating and air conditioning unit at the community center. The former two-room school house provides space for a variety of activities in rural parts of northwest Washington County.
"They all come together and get good use of what they have," Frost said. "It's neat what they can do with one building." It's that kind of community spirit and collaboration that the Sisters of St. Joseph look for when approving the grants, Frost said.
The Charitable Fund is accepting applications for the fall of 2003 grants until July 16. To be eligible for consideration, the organization must be a non-profit or public agency with tax exempt status. The project proposals must relate to healthy communities, healthy families or healthy senior citizens, Frost said.
In total, the Sisters of St. Joseph Charitable Fund donates about $900,000 a year, drawing from the interest of about $20 million in investments from the sale of St. Joseph Hospital in the mid -1990s.
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Marietta Memorial Health Foundation, Marietta, $50,000 - Expansion of Health Ministries program.
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Belpre Middle School, Belpre, $7,000 - A challenge grant toward the installation of a community walking track and fitness stations.
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Hervida 4-H Camp, Marietta, $30,000 - A challenge grant toward securing other funds necessary to complete the camp's swimming pool improvements.
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Palmer Township Trustees, Waterford, $10,800 - To complete the community center improvements.
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Tri-County Rural Water and Sewer District, Waterford, $7,000 - A challenge grant toward the township's safe water improvement project.