2004 - 2006 Awardees


Cathedral Health Services, Inc.
Newark, New Jersey

Cathedral Health Services is the non-profit organization that operates Saint James Hospital, a 182-bed, full service community hospital marking its 104^th year of service to the East Ward of Newark, New Jersey. Founded by the Archdiocese of Newark as the Saint James Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum and Hospital, the Mission of Cathedral Healthcare Services is: to minister to those in need of healing, to foster the values of love, compassion, justice and reverence for life; and to support health services that improve or maintain quality of life. Funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program will be used to improve maternal and child health in the East Ward to 400 women of child-bearing age, their families, and significant others.  By creating a family resources initiative as an outreach service in community-based settings, Cathedral Health Services and Saint James Hospital hope to reduce the incidence of low birth weight babies, improve the outcomes of pregnancies, reduce the number of teenage pregnancies, and establish the foundation for each family to have a safe and healthy home.


The Children’s Clinic, Serving Children and Their Families
Long Beach, California

In 1999, the Children’s Clinic, Serving Children and Their Families helped lead a coalition of 23 groups, organizations and agencies in the first meeting of The Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma (LBACA). The Alliance has since grown to include over 50 organizations, all motivated by a concern that childhood asthma is poorly controlled in the city of Long Beach.  The Alliance, which has nine full-time employees and six consultants, is working to improve the health of children with asthma and change the profile of childhood asthma. LBACA’s focus is on the residents of zip code 90813 who live in older stock, poor quality housing and in close proximity to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles (the third largest port complex in the world), six oil refineries, and the 710 freeway.  Funds granted to the Children’s Clinic will be used to help the Alliance sustain its community health worker program, an asthma resource center, and a training program to provide asthma education to patients at provider sites.  In addition to maintaining these programs, the Alliance hopes to expand them into other parts of the Long Beach community and influence systems and policy change to better the health of the children of Long Beach.


Sumter Regional Hospital/Ellaville Primary Medicine Center
Ellaville, Georgia

The Ellaville Primary Medicine Center (EPMC) is a small rural health clinic located in Schley County, Georgia. The Center provides primary health care services to a growing population of medically underserved and often impoverished members of the community. Over twenty-six percent of Schley County children live in poverty and more than fifty-six percent of children in their school system are eligible for free or reduced price school lunches.  Schley and surrounding counties lie in the middle of the “stroke belt”.  In 1997, forty-five percent of all deaths were the result of cardiovascular disease.  A team of three nurses and three full-time health outreach workers provides care to the 4,000 residents of Schley County and the additional 7,000 migrant farm workers who pass through the territory each year. With the funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, EPMC is implementing the Wild Cats Are Fit Cats program to address the problem of childhood obesity in Schley County and to decrease the risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Children in grades K-8 receive age-appropriate health education and an after-school fitness program encourages students in grades 4 through 6 to stay active. Parents are also encouraged to take an active role in helping their families to build and maintain healthy lifestyles. 

Originally founded in 1993 for a school population of less than 400 students, the School-Based Health Center (SBHC) in Hart, Texas has evolved into a resource for children of all ages in several counties in the Texas Panhandle. At present, the program has more than 800 active users on file, and with a six- county service area consisting of almost 9,000 uninsured children, the potential for an increased client base is staggering. Comprehensive services, including primary medical and preventive care, dental treatment, mental health counseling and educational programs, provide community members with care that would otherwise be unavailable to them. A primary concern for uninsured and underinsured families in the Panhandle is the extremely limited access to dental care. Two local dentists and one hygienist travel more than 70 miles to Hart to provide their services.  The Community Health Care grant has ensured continued service to Hart and its surrounding communities. A return to profitability is enabling the School-Based Health Clinic to expand it services to more and more children outside of the town’s limits, to pay dental salaries and to continue to operate while seeking federal support.

In rural Alabama, doctors and hospitals are so scarce that pregnant women and sick children must travel up to 30 miles to the nearest health clinic for routine checkups, and those with special needs must travel over 150 miles (one way) to Children’s Hospital.  There is no local bus service, and as many as one in four homes has no car; therefore, transportation to these places is impossible for some.  To fight this problem, Russell Jackson, a local firefighter, gave up his job in 1997 to start Kid One Transport, a non-profit organization that provides transportation to medical facilities for children and expectant mothers.  Kid One started service in Jefferson County with one vehicle, and now covers 28 of Alabama’s 67 counties with 13 vehicles. After six years, 60,000 trips and a million-and-a-half miles, over 5,000 children and expectant mothers have been transported for health care.  The Johnson & Johnson grant will allow Kid One’s full-time service area to expand to four more rural counties.  The expansion will help advance Kid One’s vision of improving the health and well-being of Alabama’s children.

Project PLASE, Inc. was founded in 1974 to address the health and shelter needs of the homeless. Fifty-seven percent of Maryland’s homeless citizens are in Baltimore. Fifty-three percent of the state’s HIV/AIDS cases occur in Baltimore.  Project PLASE, which stands for People Lacking Adequate Shelter and Employment, concentrates its efforts on the homeless who also suffer from psychiatric or developmental disorders, HIV or AIDS, or substance abuse problems.  From its inception, Project PLASE has developed a compassionate, comprehensive approach to helping homeless adults return to permanent housing and increase self-sufficiency.  Project PLASE offers transitional and permanent housing, as well as Shelter Plus Care units and a facility for the medically fragile.  In 2003, Project PLASE served 348 people through its transitional housing program and 199 people through its permanent housing program.  Project PLASE and its 60 employees also provide a wide range of services to clients, including health care education, counseling and support services.  The organization also helps clients express themselves and grow through art classes, writing groups, and trips to museums, zoos, and sporting events.  The Community Health Care grant will help Project PLASE continue its mission of helping the homeless. 

Established in 1997 by former Wisconsin First Lady Sue Ann Thompson, the Wisconsin Women's Health Foundation is the only statewide non-profit organization in Wisconsin whose mission centers entirely on women’s health.  Areas of focus span women’s major health concerns, from breast cancer and cardiovascular disease to domestic violence and mental illness.

The mission of the Wisconsin Women's Health Foundation’s is: to reach all women with the information, opportunity, and support they need to be healthy; to encourage women to become advocates for their own health; and to improve the overall quality of life for women and their families.  One of the organization’s programs, the GrapeVine Project, is distinctive in its efforts to educate women in rural communities, who often suffer from a lack of access to care and health information.

In 2002, The GrapeVine Project was presented in six rural/northern Wisconsin counties.  The counties were identified by the State of Wisconsin, Division of Public Health as the pilot counties suited to launch and test this project.  Fourteen GrapeVine programs were conducted by twelve trained Parish Nurses, totaling 178 women being served.  The total project goal is to reach at least 1,000-2,500 women in 2004 through program expansion.

The GrapeVine Project is based on the idea that women are the best advocates for their own health and should share information with other women in their own languages and in their own communities.  Parish nurses are increasingly valued in rural communities as trusted community health advisors.  As these parish nurses continue to spread the message about the importance of general health and disease prevention, each community, like a cluster of grapes, will become connected to another through a continuous grapevine. Through this important education initiative, parish nurses already have reached countless women living in Wisconsin’s remote and medically underserved areas.

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