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Organizations Unite to Promote Cultural Competency
West Palm Beach, FL - Allegany Franciscan Foundation, Inc., Palm Beach County (Allegany) and Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. (PHF) today announced the recipients of a joint funding initiative to promote cultural competency in healthcare. The awards were given to Hospice by the Sea; Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Palm Beach County; Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County; Neighbors Organized for Adequate Housing (NOAH); and Samaritan Gardens Community Health Center at a luncheon in West Palm Beach.
"Both Palm Healthcare Foundation and the Allegany Franciscan Foundation share a common desire to create accessibility to improve the health status of diverse communities and we are pleased to join together to help these important organizations and programs," said Suzette Wexner, President of PHF.
"This initiative is an excellent opportunity for our foundations to join together to remove cultural barriers to healthcare for indigent and underserved populations," said Eric Kelly, Executive Director of Allegany. "The organizations receiving grants have structured programs that promote language access and medical translation services or help navigate healthcare."
Hospice by the Sea will use the grant for its "Opening Doors" program, which improves access to Hospice care at end of life for African Americans. Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies will use the grant for its male prenatal care advocacy program, which will increase access to prenatal care for women in the Mayan, Haitian or Mexican communities by providing a male prenatal healthcare advocate to educate the men in the those communities.
NOAH's prenatal/parenting program will benefit from the grant by providing education and translation services to at-risk, pregnant teens of Haitian and other minority groups. The Literacy Coalition will use the grant to train staff at 12 healthcare sites in Palm Beach County to convey health information in written and spoken formats for adults with low literacy skills and /or limited English proficiency.
Samaritan Gardens will use the grant to fund its Navigation Expansion project. The project will expand the navigation efforts already in place to assist patients with the Health Care District eligibility application and help them acquire prescription medication through the pharmaceutical companies' Patient Assistance Program. For those who do not qualify for any county or state healthcare insurance, Samaritan Gardens will help them pursue services.
Allegany Franciscan Foundation is a Catholic Foundation guided by the mission and rooted in the tradition and vision of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. It is a catalyst for systemic change by committing resources and working collaboratively with others to promote physical, mental, spiritual, societal and cultural well-being in communities served. For more information, please call 561-491-0821or visit the website at www.franciscanfdn.org.
Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. is an independent community healthcare foundation dedicated to the good health of Palm Beach County. The foundation concentrates its funding on programs that improve access to healthcare and advance nursing practice and education. For more information, please call 561-833-6333or visit the website at www.palmhealthcare.org.
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