Parkview Whitley Hospital grants $66,150 to improve community health
(Talk of the Town photo provided) Five organizations in Whitley County are receiving a share of $66,150 from Parkview Whitley Hospital’s Community Health Improvement program to promote their initiatives in Whitley County. Above, from left, are: Tai Felger, coordinator, Parkview Community Health Improvement; Scott Gabriel, chief operating officer, Parkview Whitley Hospital; Tania Keirn, executive director of Interfaith Mission, Inc. / The Lighthouse; Shawn Ellis, executive director of Beds & Britches, Etc. (B.A.B.E.); Jeff Wike, executive director of The Center for Whitley County Youth; and Amber Recker, development director for Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana. Not shown is Paige Wilkins, program supervisor for Community Action of Northeast Indiana (CANI).
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Parkview Whitley Hospital has renewed community partnerships with five complementary not-for-profit organizations in Whitley County, which have received a share of $66,150 in Community Health Improvement funds for 2011. The organizations, which meet the hospital’s guidelines for being able to work collaboratively and proactively to improve the health of the community, are:
• Beds & Britches, Etc. (B.A.B.E.)
• Community Action of Northeast Indiana (CANI)
• Interfaith Mission, Inc. / The Lighthouse
• The Center for Whitley County Youth
• Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana
To be eligible, the organizations had to demonstrate how they address specific community health needs and show that they are able to measure the specific improvements their programs contribute to community health.
“We are pleased to be able to renew our partnerships with these important community organizations,” said Scott Gabriel, Parkview Whitley Hospital chief operating officer. “They best meet our criteria for establishing community partners.”
Since 2000, the Beds & Britches, Etc. (B.A.B.E.) program has provided quality incentives to Whitley County parents who participate in preventive and prenatal care, including parenting, educational and nutritional classes to promote healthy pregnancies, birth outcomes and early childhood development. Funds granted to the B.A.B.E. program are being used for program operating expenses. It also is the referral service for all health and education-related services available to families in Whitley County.
Community Action of Northeast Indiana (CANI) has existed since1965 to help communities, families and individuals remove the causes and conditions of poverty by promoting self-sufficiency and healthy relationships. CANI is using its Community Health Improvement funds to support outreach, marketing, advocacy, coalition building, enrollment and retention activities for Covering Kids and Families of Northeast Indiana Coalition (CKFI-NEIN). The coalition is a statewide program committed to ensuring that all children, adults and families eligible for Medicaid, Hoosier Healthwise and the Healthy Indiana Plan are enrolled.
Interfaith Mission, Inc. / The Lighthouse was established in 1998 to provide shelter, food and a program of self-sufficiency and healthy living to the homeless in the Whitley County area. The organization is using its grant funds to provide basic needs relating to physical and mental health issues of the homeless families living at The Lighthouse Transitional Shelter, and to educate them to adopt healthy practices to provide a safe environment for themselves and their children.
The Center for Whitley County Youth has operated autonomously since 2006 as a broad-based community endeavor to promote youth development in the community through service, outreach and collaboration with other like-minded youth-serving organizations. It offers after-school, weekend and summer programming as well as facility space for other youth-serving organizations, and much more. The Center is using its funds to increase community health through holistic and preventive youth-development programs that increase developmental assets and promote healthier youths.
Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana has been serving people diagnosed with cancer since 1944. It focuses on the tangible supports and practical needs of cancer patients, such as financial and prescription assistance, durable medical equipment, health supplies and wigs, transportation assistance, support groups and supportive counseling. Its grant funds are designated to support its Client Advocate Program, which provides psychosocial support through personal advocacy, supportive counseling, information referral, as well as access to durable medical equipment, personal health supplies, financial and prescription assistance, transportation to treatment facilities, wigs, support groups and education resources.
Parkview Whitley Hospital supports the local community through gifts to local agencies in order to fulfill Parkview’s mission to improve the health of the community. Parkview Whitley Hospital’s Community Health Improvement Program is funded annually through a tithe of the hospital’s net income. As the community’s only non-profit hospital, Parkview chooses to give to programs that have a positive impact on the health of Whitley County residents.