PROVIDENCE – In an effort to improve the health care Rhode Islanders receive, the Rhode Island Foundation recently announced more than $270,000 in grants was awarded to five organizations, for everything from providing medical care to uninsured women to reducing the frequency of emergency room visits due to behavioral health issues.
“Developing an inclusive primary care system that promotes healthy lives is one of our core strategic initiatives. These grants will advance our continuing efforts to make quality health care more accessible and affordable,” said Neil D. Steinberg, the foundation’s president and CEO, in a statement.
The five grants were awarded through the foundation’s RIGHA Foundation Fund, which was established in 2010 after Harvard Pilgrim Health Care acquired the former Rhode Island Group Health Association and to which HPHC continues to make annual contributions.
Grant recipients were:
- Clinica Esperanza, which was awarded $50,000 to support its “Bridging the Gap” program, which aims to improve the health of uninsured, low-income, limited-English-speaking patients who have diabetes, hypertension or other chronic diseases.
- Crossroads Rhode Island received $70,000 to support its Mental Health Navigation and Housing Stability project, which targets homeless adults transitioning to permanent housing. The project will serve an estimated 40 extremely low-income, homeless adults who live in housing units owned or managed by Crossroads. The participants have a wide range of physical and mental health challenges.
- The Rhode Island Free Clinic received a $25,000 grant to launch the Healthcare for Hispanic Women program. The clinic will hire a bilingual medical assistant, which will enable it to serve an estimated 600 uninsured, low-income Hispanic women who are not eligible for coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act and cannot afford health care through HealthSource RI.
- South County Hospital Health Care received $64,347 to work with the Washington County Behavioral Health Collaborative, The Providence Center and Butler Hospital to reduce the number behavioral-health-related visits to emergency rooms at South County Hospital and Westerly Hospital.
- Thundermist Health Center was awarded $61,875 to hire a pharmacist to provide chronic-disease management, medication assessment and adjustment, and advanced patient education. The pharmacist is expected to see 125 unique patients per year, with over 475 annual pharmacy-education and medication-management visits. The pharmacist will take on complex patients with multiple chronic conditions to ensure proper medication management, easing the burden on primary care providers.
Karen Voci, president of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, said in prepared remarks: “Philanthropic support can provide the seed funding necessary to take innovative programs like these to the next level. Our goal is to reduce the cost of delivering high-quality primary health care to Rhode Islanders.”
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a PBN staff writer.
