Foundation brings in holiday with extra grant approvals
St. Louis, December 17 - Imagine a pregnant mother with gestational diabetes who can not read the materials available on her condition because they are in English. Picture a child who is eligible for Medicaid but can not receive dental services due to a lack of dentists in the area who accept Medicaid patients. What if the local school system has a high rate of teen pregnancy and has the idea to implement a nationally-recognized, successful program, but none of the funds to support it?
Christmas came early to some area nonprofits grappling with these and similar problems. The Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) approved seven additional grants in December, a time when the foundation was originally not planning to issue more grants. More than 500 proposals have been received this year and will continue to be processed by the foundation staff in 2003.
The grants approved for December are:
Barnes Jewish Hospital Foundation St. Louis, Mo
Grant amount: $29,386
Project: To expand a gestational diabetes education program to Bosnian and Hispanic women by translating patient handbooks and materials to their respective languages.
Region Served: St. Louis Metro
Contact: Emma Lee Twitchell (314) 286-0405
Dunklin County Caring Council Kennett, Mo.
Grant amount: $38,933
Project: To implement an innovative teen pregnancy prevention program in seven high schools in Dunklin and Pemiscot counties.
Region Served: Bootheel
Contact: Minnie Sanders (573) 717-1158
Center for Hearing-Speech St. Louis, Mo.
Grant amount: $75,000
Project: To expand free hearing and vision screenings in schools to include those schools in poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
Region Served: St. Louis Metro
Contact: Rita Tintera (314) 968-4710
Knox County Health Department Edina, Mo.
Grant amount: $221,696
Project: To provide a heart health project for Northeast Missouri which would include volunteer wellness programs at work sites, churches, school and clubs. The project includes four counties: Clark, Knox, Scotland and Shelby.
Region Served: Northeast
Contact: Laura Moots (660) 397-3396
Our Lady's Inn St. Louis, Mo.
Grant amount: $96,404
Project: To provide perinatal care to mothers and their infants and to link them to a medical care provider.
Region Served: St. Louis Metro
Contact: Gloria Lee (314) 351-4590
Southside Catholic Community Services St. Louis, Mo.
Grant amount: $150,000
Project: To organize a health network program and utilize a bilingual community and social worker in order to link the Hispanic community to necessary health services.
Region Served: St. Louis Metro
Contact: Ana Beatriz Paul (314) 773-6100
St. Louis Children's Hospital St. Louis, Mo.
Grant amount: $97,362
Project: To equip a health van with dental equipment and provide a dentist and dental assistant to make preventative dental services available to children.
Region Served: St. Louis Metro
Contact: Cornelius Washington (314) 286-0979
Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis, Mo.
Grant amount: $115,384
Project: To provide health care to teens with complex medical conditions.
Region Served: St. Louis metro
Contact: Samuel Klein (314) 362-8708
The MFH region encompasses 84 counties and the City of St. Louis. Established in January of 2000, it is the largest health care foundation in the state. Its mission is to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves. More than $8 million was given in 2002, the foundation's first year of grantmaking. Next year the foundation plans to give $36 million to health-related efforts.
For additional information regarding the MFH and its grantmaking, contact the foundation office at (314) 345-5500 or visit the Web site at www.mffh.org.
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