SPOTLIGHT: The Healthcare Foundation Infant &
Early Childhood Mental Health Promotion and Access Initiative
Three years ago, The Healthcare Foundation of
New Jersey, informed by area stakeholders, launched a $1.5 million
demonstration project to increase access to behavioral health services for
infants and young children in the Greater Newark area. The initiative responded to a well-documented need to support the
healthy social and emotional development of the area’s young
children.
This innovative,
three-year project funds three neighborhood-based behavioral health
programs – two inNewark and one in Irvington. Each program provides a model of
direct service within preschool, toddler, or infant care settings, as well
as ongoing training and consultation for professional and family
caregivers. The initial
projects will conclude in the summer of 2009. Plans are already underway to
conduct a professional evaluation and disseminate information that we hope
will affect public policy and elevate standards of care for young children
and their families throughout the area.
Grantees:
Family Connections:
Rise & Shine
Ironbound Community Corporation:
Ironbound Early Childhood
Mental Health Services
Initiative
Northern
NJ Maternal & Child Health
Consortium:
Play, Grow & Heal
SPOTLIGHT:
Rutgers
University
Foundation Soap Opera
Videos to Combat the Spread of HIV/AIDS
Reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS among
vulnerable populations has long been a component of The Healthcare
Foundation’s work.
Rutgers’ innovative project recognizes that
urban black and Latina women are being infected at an
epidemic rate, and that approximately 82% of the infections in 18-29
year-olds are transmitted through heterosexual sex. It recognizes, too, that
most women know what to do about protecting themselves against HIV. In the heat of the moment, some
just don’t do it.
To reach those women, Rutgers researcher Dr. Rachel Jones proposed
creating a series of 12 soap opera-like videos, to be downloaded from the
web onto cell phones, videos that would speak to women in ways they would
heed and model behavior they would follow. “What we believe … is that
knowledge alone is not effective at changing behaviors,” Jones said. “We believe that women in the
community will so identify with heroines in the story that their own
behaviors will change as well.”
The cell phone format offers privacy to viewers, and the opportunity to view the
videos over and over again.
Armed with a grant from HFNJ to produce the
videos, and a subsequent $2 million grant from the National Institute of
Health for evaluation, the project is proceeding. We eagerly await the
results.
SPOTLIGHT: Providing Home Services to the Frail
Elderly
One of the truths of living in the
US today is that our population
is aging. More people are living well into their eighties and beyond, and
that number promises to increase as “boomers” reach retirement and
advances in medicine cure or forestall the ravages of disease.
These are positive developments, but coupled
with economic realities and medical limitations, many older adults find
themselves isolated and physically or financially unable to venture beyond
their front door.
To meet these challenges, The Healthcare
Foundation of NJ supports several signature projects designed to enable
the frail elderly to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Providing teams of various
professionals that may include geriatric social workers, psychiatric
nurses, case managers, doctors, and support personnel, these projects
identify needed services and marshal the support clients need. In 2008, those projects
were:
- Jewish Family Service of MetroWest - Community
Housecalls:
Now in its 5th year, this groundbreaking
project has provided a myriad of services and referrals for over 2,200
unduplicated clients.
- Jewish Family Service of
Central New
Jersey -Geriatric Mental
Health Initiative: This project provided service to 118 clients in its second year of
operation, focusing on identifying and treating depression, anxiety and
dementia.
- Clara
Maass
Hospital Foundation - Clara
Cares:
With support from HFNJ, Clara Cares addresses
the medical and psycho-social needs of the isolated frail and homebound
elderly.
- Metro Transport at Daughters
of Israel: Seeded by the Healthcare
Foundation in 2003, this collaborative project
provides handicapped accessible, door-through-door inter and
intra-county medical/social transportation for seniors and disabled adults
regardless of their ability to pay.
- UJC of MetroWest
-
MetroWest
CARES: Through a grant that
supports professional staff for this UJC initiative, the HFNJ enhanced community
efforts to create a strategic approach to maintaining the elderly in their
home communities - working to coordinate services among organizations
providing care for older adults and their families and reaching out to policy
makers on their behalf.