Four
central Missouri organizations have received a share of $2,003,159
in grants from Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH). The funding
enables recipient organizations to improve services to diabetics,
increase access to health care, and promote smoking cessation
in the workplace. Two of the three MFH funding programs are
new in 2006.
The MFH grants are:
Columbia/Boone County Health Department, Columbia,
$229,142. This two-year grant funds area efforts to provide
smoking cessation assistance to food service workers, WIC
clients, city employees and other individuals in Boone County.
This is part of MFH's Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative,
a nine-year, $40 million funding effort, now in its third
year of grantmaking.
Curators of the University of Missouri, Columbia, $1,293,451.
This three-year grant links the University's extension programs
to patients, physicians and community partnership interventions
in order to improve diabetes self-management in rural central
Missouri. The project is anticipated to serve 10,000 individuals,
and is one of eight funded under MFH's new Priority Area Grant
effort - Better Self-Management of Diabetes. The funding effort
opened in 2006 and encourages high-quality care for individuals
with this chronic disease.
Family Health Center of Boone County, Columbia, $306,604.
This three-year grant enables the health center to increase
its capacity to provide primary medical care to the medically
underserved in and around Chariton County. This funding is
part of MFH's newly developed Primary Care Access Initiative,
which focuses on strengthening the health care safety net
and improving access to care for Missouri residents. This
is one of eight grants made across the state under this Initiative,
for a total of $5 million.
Phoenix Programs, Inc., Columbia, $173,962.
Funding through this two-year grant supports implementing
smoking cessation programs for employees and clients at Phoenix's
facility. This grant also is made through the Tobacco Prevention
and Cessation Initiative.
"We are pleased to provide grants to these
organizations as they work toward helping central Missouri
residents," says Dr. James R. Kimmey, MFH's president
and CEO. "Our two new programs - Primary Care Access
Initiative and Better Self-Management of Diabetes - also add
to MFH's efforts to ensure all Missourians have adequate access
to high-quality health care options, and thus live healthier
lives."
Established in 2000 through the for-profit conversion
of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH is the largest
non-governmental funder of community health activities in
the state. MFH is in its fourth year of grantmaking, issuing
more than $195 million in grants and awards to date. It is
dedicated to serving the uninsured, underinsured and underserved
in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis.
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