Huntsville Hospital CHI awards $600K in grants to local nonprofit healthcare organizations

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Huntsville Hospital CHI awards 0K in grants to local nonprofit healthcare organizations

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Huntsville Hospital’s Community Health Initiative awarded $600,000 worth of grants to 10 local healthcare organizations on Tuesday.

These healthcare organizations focus on providing services to those who do not have healthcare benefits.

The Community Health Initiative began in 1996, making this its 28th year. It has awarded over $13 million in grants to over 50 local healthcare organizations.

What do those involved say is most important about this initiative? The impact these grants and facilities have made on the community.

“Where people who don’t have any resources at all can get free care,” Jeff Samz, CEO of Huntsville Health Systems, said. “And, if you go in there and see the work that the free dental clinic and the free health clinic do for people who are most in need, it’s incredibly gratifying and one of the best things we do.”

Community Free Clinic, a 26-year grant recipient, focuses on providing free healthcare medications, and education to those who do not have healthcare benefits.

Shotsie Platt, director of the Community Free Clinic, talked to News 19 about the impact she has seen the clinic have on the community – a clinic that Samz describes as the “bedrock” in taking care of those who are most in need.

“On the patient, it changes their life completely,” Platt said. “I mean, to be able to have access to healthcare that they wouldn’t ordinarily have, staying out of the hospital. The effect on the community is that they are not in the emergency room, they’re not in the ICUs, they’re not in the CCUs. They’re able to continue working and providing for their family.”

A first-time grant recipient, Clinica Medica Moscati, focuses on providing healthcare access and services to those in need, with an emphasis on the Hispanic community.

A one-of-its-kind in the area, the clinic also provides specialized doctors for those who may need more personalized care. These doctors range from gastroenterology to rheumatology, but Administrative Director Mayra Short takes her care one step further.

“One of the things we do is we help our patients over and beyond medical care,” Short said. “So, when we identify a patient as having specific needs, we work with other nonprofits to serve them.”

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Short said one example of this is when she contacted nonprofits dealing with shelter insecurity after learning that a patient was facing that issue. She added that she hopes to hire a case worker with the grant money to expand their resources in helping patients beyond their healthcare needs.

You can find the full lists of all 10 nonprofits and what they were awarded here:

  1. The Arc of Madison County – $95,000
  2. Clinica Medica Moscati – $50,000
  3. The Community Free Clinic – $100,000
  4. The Community Free Dental Clinic – $50,000
  5. HEALS – $25,000
  6. Kids to Love – $85,000
  7. New Hope Children’s Clinic – $25,000
  8. Parkinson’s Dynamics – $85,000
  9. United Cerebral Palsy – $35,000
  10. Village of Promise – $50,000

For more information on the Huntsville Hospital Community Health Initiative, click here.

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