Osteopathic Heritage Foundations

November 2003
October 2003
April 2003

November 2003

Southeastern Ohio residents to benefit from nearly $280,000 in awards from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation of Nelsonville

Ten southeastern Ohio organizations will receive more than $277,160 in grants from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation of Nelsonville. These awards will support programs to improve health and quality of life for vulnerable populations:

Hocking College: David S. Fraedrich Memorial Scholarship ($50,000) – The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation of Nelsonville and the Columbus-based Osteopathic Heritage Foundation each provided $25,000 to establish a Hocking College nursing scholarship in memory of deceased board member David S. Fraedrich. The gift will provide at least one scholarship each year to an Athens County or Hocking County resident enrolled in the Hocking College of Nursing. Special consideration will be given to graduates of Nelsonville-York City Schools and to Doctors Hospital of Nelsonville employees.
Doctors Hospital of Nelsonville: Facility improvements ($50,000) – The hospital will receive funds to support a variety of facility improvements designed to enhance patient care and satisfaction.
Geographic Information System (GIS): Phase Two ($36,627) –
Nine southeastern Ohio health departments will receive an additional year of funding to continue implementation of the GIS initiative. Each department is utilizing innovative technology to improve public health services and programs provided to local residents. Participating health departments are Athens City-County, Belpre City, Fairfield County, Hocking County, Jackson County, Meigs County, Ross County, Vinton County and Washington County.
Athens County Department of Job and Family Services: Project Nurse Assistant ($25,000) – Through a mentoring program, this project seeks to help at-risk employees retain their nursing assistant jobs and decrease the turnover of nursing assistants in Athens County.
Big Brothers/Big Sisters: Positive Partners ($25,000) – This award will fund expansion of an adult mentoring program for children ages 10-15 who have had contact with the juvenile court.
Hocking Valley Community Residential Center: Reviving Appalachian Family Time (RAFT) ($25,000) – The treatment facility for teenage males will use the funds to purchase equipment for a physical fitness and exercise program for the residents and their parents. The fitness facilities are also available to the Nelsonville community.
My Sisters’ Place: Health Assessment Project ($25,000) – The award will provide for staff and volunteer training to assist in meeting the health needs of women seeking help from the domestic violence program.
American Red Cross: Safety Network ($19,533) – In collaboration with 23 other organizations, the American Red Cross will develop a safety network and response system for elderly and disabled Athens County residents. The network will identify and educate those at risk and their caregivers on emergency procedures.
Habitat for Humanity: 2004 Build ($15,000) – This award will help Habitat for Humanity secure matching funds for its 2004 building program.
Nelsonville Public Library: Summer Reading and Food Service Program ($6,000) – These funds will enable the library’s Chauncey, Coolville, Glouster and Nelsonville locations to continue the summer food program that serves more than 250 low-income children. In addition, the funds will provide toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss for low-income library patrons.

| top |

October 2003

Foundation awards more than $2 million to central Ohio oral health initiatives
Following a request for proposal process, seven central Ohio programs will receive Osteopathic Heritage Foundation funding awards to improve access to oral health care, Ohio’s greatest unmet health need. These programs are as follows:

The Ohio State University College of Dentistry’s Mobile Dental Van ($658,434) – The College of Dentistry, Columbus Public Schools, Children’s Hospital and the Columbus Health Department will work together to take dental services to low-income Columbus children. By equipping a mobile dental unit that travels to the schools, the program will provide underserved children with routine dental care. When not visiting schools, the mobile dental team can offer dental care at after-school programs and other community programs. Approximately 11,650 patient visits are expected during the three-year funding period.
Columbus Neighborhood Health Centers’ Dental Safety Net Clinics ($460,046) – There are only two viable dental clinic options for many low-income Franklin County residents without dental insurance. Both sites have recently increased their physical capacity but had no funds to add necessary staff. A two-year award from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation will enable the East Central Neighborhood Health Center and the Columbus Health Department dental clinic to comply with federal staffing guidelines for optimal efficiency and increasing patient access by 8,300 visits.
Columbus Children’s Hospital’s Prenatal Education and Treatment Project ($317,135) – An increasing number of studies are suggesting a link between pregnant women’s oral health and the health of their babies. In addition, statistics show low-income mothers are less likely to seek dental care than the general population. A three-year Osteopathic Heritage Foundation award will enable Children’s Hospital to establish a prenatal dental clinic, providing preventive and treatment services to pregnant teens and women through age 21, as well as patient and provider education. Over the three-year funding period, the clinic expects 4,725 patient visits by 1,575 low-income adolescents during pregnancy and the six months after giving birth.
Knox County Health Department Safety Net Dental Clinic ($307,628) – This three-year award will enable the county to re-open its only designated safety net clinic, providing a full-time dentist and five-day-per-week services for the working poor who lack dental insurance and Medicaid-eligible adults and children. It is anticipated the two-chair office will have 6,540 patient visits over the award period.
Licking County Health Department ($155,000) and Madison County Health Department ($142,627) Oral Health Referral and Education Programs – These two counties expect to schedule more than 6,000 dental appointments for low-income residents during the three-year funding period. Using a model developed collaboratively by the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services and the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation of Nelsonville, the programs will recruit local private practice dental offices to accept Medicaid recipients, the uninsured and the underinsured as patients.
FIRSTLINK Dental Indigent Fund ($85,500) – FIRSTLINK administers the OPTIONS dental program to link uninsured low-income residents with dental care. Even with discounted services, many people have difficulty paying the required fees. The Foundation’s three-year award to FIRSTLINK will cover lab fees and oral appliances for 95 individuals in 18 central and southeastern Ohio counties each year.

Oral health programs to be evaluated
In addition to the above-mentioned program funding awards, the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation awarded a $74,822 three-year contract for external evaluation of the central Ohio oral health projects it has funded. Ohio University’s Institute for Local Government Administration and Rural Development (ILGARD) will document the effectiveness of funded oral health programs in achieving program goals, help the programs identify and solicit on-going financial support, and recommend policy changes that would enhance access to and utilization of oral health care services.

Foundation helps Columbus college expand its nursing program
The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation is providing $364,812 to Columbus State Community College for its health care facilities expansion project. The funds will outfit two nursing program laboratories just completed on campus to accommodate this fall’s 52% enrollment increase in nursing education. In addition, the award will provide a human patient care simulator than enables nursing students to build their skills, confidence and decision-making in clinical situations.

| top |

April 2003

Foundation awards $2 million to Doctors OhioHealth for osteopathic medical education enhancements – The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation will make an additional $2 million contribution to the Heritage Endowment for the Enhancement of Osteopathic Medical Education to support osteopathic post-graduate medical education programs at Doctors OhioHealth. The Heritage Endowment was established in 2000 by Doctors OhioHealth upon receipt of an initial $5 million contribution from the Foundation.

In addition, the Foundation approved nearly $250,000 to support continuing education opportunities for medical staff and residents.

Endowment will establish osteopathic medical educator program – A $1.5 million endowment to Midwestern University’s Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine will be used to establish the J. Richard Costin, D.O. Institute for Osteopathic Medical Educators. Named in honor of the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation’s board chairman and graduate of the college, the institute is designed to train medical educators for the osteopathic profession.

Award will fund research of osteopathic manipulative therapy in elderly pneumonia patients – A $654,523 award over two years will support a clinical research project to study the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) in elderly patients with pneumonia. This study will be coordinated by the Osteopathic Research Center at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, with participating clinical research sites at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, Michigan’s Mount Clemens General Hospital and the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. A consortium of osteopathic supportive foundations, including the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation, is funding the two-year project.

Foundation allocates up to $3 million over three years for central Ohio oral health initiatives – The 1998 Ohio Family Health Survey designated dental care as Ohio’s #1 unmet health need. When the Foundation-sponsored 2002 community health assessment identified oral health as a priority in central Ohio as well, the Foundation made improving access to oral health care for vulnerable populations a funding priority. Through a request for proposal (RFP) process, the Foundation will provide up to $3 million over three years to fund programs designed to improve access to oral health care programs and services in eight central Ohio counties. The Foundation has previously allocated up to $1 million for similar efforts in southeastern Ohio.

Community responsive grantmaking program to be established – Up to $1 million has been allocated by the Foundation to support a responsive grant-making program for central Ohio. Proposals will be requested of community-based health and social service organizations dedicated to improving the health and quality of life in the Foundation’s targeted communities. Information about the responsive grant-making program will be available on the Foundation’s Web site.

| top |