Dominican Awards More Than $160K to 10 Local Nonprofits

Dignity Health Dominican Hospital today announced the recipients of more than $160,000 in funding through the annual Dignity Health Community Grants program.

Ten local nonprofits were recognized for their commitment to providing innovative resources and support that improve the quality of life for the Santa Cruz County residents most in need.

“Our guiding mission is to improve the health and well-being of the neediest in our community, and we actively seek out partnerships to fulfill this goal,” commented Martina O’Sullivan, director for community engagement at Dominican Hospital. “These 10 organizations continually inspire us with the incredible good they do, and we are honored to help support their work.”

This year’s grantees include:

· Community Bridges Collaborative for its Health Access Project, which supports health benefits and preventive health care for families across Santa Cruz County, primarily targeting low-income, Latino farmworkers/service workers and their families.

· Dientes Community Dental Care for its work to reduce Emergency Department visits by providing access to emergency and preventive dental care for uninsured patients. Dientes provides over 22,000 dental visits a year and serves close to 8,000 children and adults in a state-of-the-art clinic.

· Encompass Community Services (formerly Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center) for its work with the Santa Cruz AIDS Project (SCAP), providing outreach, prevention education, and case management services to Santa Cruz County farmworkers and their families.

· Healthy Kids of Santa Cruz County, a project of United Way, for its work to enroll all eligible children in the Healthy Kids Health Plan ensuring access to health care services necessary for healthy development. Healthy Kids targets all Santa Cruz County children who are ineligible for Medi-Cal and whose families earn up to 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (about $70,000 for a family of four).

· Homeless Services Center for the Behavioral Support Initiative (BSI) and the Recuperative Care Center (RCC). The BSI’s goal is to significantly reduce the number of RCC residents who are discharged early due to behavioral issues.

Hospice of Santa Cruz County for its Transitional Care Services, which address the most pressing needs of two distinct populations: seriously ill patients who have been referred or self-refer for transitional care support, and patients who have been discharged from hospice service due to a change in prognosis. The Hospice provides continuity of care and facilitates a safe transition back to pre-hospice care.

· Nourishing Generations for its Healthy Families, Healthy Futures project, an after-school nutrition/cooking/fitness program that will address childhood obesity and other health related issues among low-income youth.

· RotaCare Bay Area, Inc. for its work in providing improved access to health care services for the community’s uninsured or under-insured residents, including diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. RotaCare recently added diabetic testing to its services.

· Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County for its Passion for Produce project, which improves health in low-income communities through access to healthy food, nutrition education, social support for healthy lifestyles, and referrals to community resources.

· United Way of Santa Cruz County for its Healthy Restaurants Project, designed to assess and improve the effectiveness of the Santa Cruz County Healthy Eating Options Ordinance, which requires all new restaurants being established in Watsonville to provide healthy menu options before receiving a building permit.

Since the early 1990s, local community organizations have received more than $2 million in grants from Dominican Hospital to promote health and wellness in Santa Cruz County.

About Dominican Hospital
Dignity Health Dominican Hospital has been caring for the Santa Cruz County community for more than 70 years. Dominican offers emergency services and is a Certified Stroke Center and Chest Pain Center. Dominican’s services include the only comprehensive Cancer Center in Santa Cruz County, a Total Joint Replacement program, and the hospital is a leading provider of neurological services. Dominican regularly receives ‘A’ grades for hospital safety from Leapfrog Group, and has received national recognition for superior safety and quality from Healthgrades, a leading provider of comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Dominican also has received several awards for environmental excellence.

--Image and info courtesy of Dominican.

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