2006 - 2008 Awardees

Central New Jersey Maternal and Child Health Consortium
New Brunswick, NJ

The Central New Jersey Maternal and Child Health Consortium (CNJMCHC) is comprised of more than 150 member agencies that serve Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset Counties, in addition to the Plainfield portion of Union County. Established in 1992, the CNJMCHC strives to improve the health of infants, children, and women of childbearing age by identifying maternal and child health needs within the region. The CNJMCHC and member organizations coordinate and implement new and existing programs to educate and train both professionals and paraprofessionals and alert consumers of health care issues. Funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program will be used to develop an infant obesity prevention program, Mommy and Me from Birth to Three, targeting the Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic infant population in Plainfield. First time mothers will meet twice a month for two years to increase their knowledge of age-appropriate nutrition and physical activity for their children and healthy life-style choices for themselves. These meetings will prevent the early onset of obesity by instituting beneficial eating and exercising habits in the first years of children’s lives.


Columbus AIDS Task Force
Columbus, OH

The Columbus AIDS Task Force (CATF) is a community-based agency that provides vital services to people living with HIV/AIDS. Relying heavily on volunteer support, the CATF is devoted to fighting the spread of HIV, offering quality services to individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS, and reducing the stigma and subsequent discrimination they may face by educating and building awareness within the community. Last year, more than 150,000 people benefited from the agency’s group and individual interventions, outreach programs, HIV testing, and referral services. Recognizing the rapidly growing number of Hispanic clients, funds granted by the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program to the CATF will be used to expand a pilot outreach program targeting this high-risk population. The program will increase testing and prevention counseling at community sites and facilitate evidence-based group level intervention, as well as develop and distribute informative print materials in Spanish. Bilingual volunteers will be hired to build training programs in Spanish, and will aid in strengthening collaborations with agencies serving Hispanics in central Ohio.

Since 1983, The Farmworker Association of Florida, Inc. (FWAF) has empowered minority farmworkers in rural poor communities to respond to and gain control over the various injustices that affect their lives. Operating across twelve counties in five farmworker communities, the FWAF will utilize grant funds by the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program to expand on the previously existing Sisters/Compañeras Program, now called Women Outreaching to Women (WOW). The program targets undocumented immigrant women who cannot receive government-funded services, live in poor conditions with poor diets, are uneducated about health issues, have low literacy skills, and speak little or no English. The goal of WOW is to improve the health of 1,000 medically underserved Hispanic and Haitian farmworkers in the central Florida region by providing varied health education classes on such topics as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, nutrition, and preventative health care. In addition, two women leaders from each county will be identified to act as lay health promoters. WOW will encourage these women to be proactive and make positive health choices for themselves and their families.

Helen Keller International – ChildSight®
Newark, NJ

The mission of Helen Keller International – ChildSight® is to eliminate the economic and social barriers that prevent children living in poverty from receiving proper eye care.  Targeting children living at or within 200% of the federal poverty line, ChildSight® New Jersey provides free vision screenings and prescription eyeglasses to students between the ages of 10 and 15.  Partnering with the public school districts of Newark, Jersey City, Plainfield, Passaic, and Irvington Township, the program helps disadvantaged children overcome the obstacles of vision care—prohibitive cost and limited access.  Funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program will help ChildSight® screen approximately 18,000 children, distribute 2,340 eyeglasses, refer approximately 180 children for follow-up treatment, and raise community and parental awareness of eye health.  Since 1998, ChildSight® New Jersey has screened more than 69,000 disadvantaged youth and distributed more than 10,000 prescription eyeglasses to needy children throughout the State. 


M-POWER Ministries
Birmingham, AL

The M-POWER Clinic, a component of M-POWER Ministries, is the only free medical clinic in Jefferson County, AL (population 658,495).  The Clinic serves uninsured and under-insured residents throughout Birmingham and Jefferson County, especially the surrounding Avondale and Woodlawn neighborhoods.  Overall, statistics show there are about 70,000 uninsured in the region.  The services provide vital acute medical care to residents of these neighborhoods, especially African-American women, Hispanics, and the homeless.  These groups historically have the greatest healthcare needs and the least healthcare access.  The needs are compounded by high rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and stroke.  Through funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, the M-POWER Clinic will have the ability to expand clinic capacity, services (including a free in-house dental clinic), and patient education, while compiling improved patient statistics and improving the volunteer experience for medical professionals.  Since the fall of 2000, 3,000 patients have made 5,232 visits to the M-POWER Clinic. 

Ozark Mountain Health Network
Clinton, AR

The Ozark Mountain Health Network (OMHN) is a formal health and human services system comprised of seven organizations that serve the Van Buren and Searcy Counties, which are exceptionally rural and underserved.  The mission of OMHN is to develop collaborative and integrated services for uninsured residents to improve overall health care access and quality of life.  With a population of more than 24,000 located in the western-most part of Arkansas’ Mississippi River Delta area, the area is mostly Caucasian, though there is a rapidly growing Hispanic population.  Working within this culture, OMHN advances health care access, disease prevention, and health care literacy.  Through funding provided by Johnson & Johnson’s Community Health Care Program, OMHN looks to initiate a new program, called Reach Out and Connect (ROAC).  As a response to the 51% of Van Buren and Searcy County residents that are not receiving medical care, this initiative allows families to be connected with medical homes regardless of their ability to pay.  Through tactics such as health screenings, health education, and advocacy of ROAC, OMHN looks to make the burden of disease in Van Buren and Searcy County a thing of the past.        

Since 2002, the St. Francis Clinic (SFC) of Siloam Springs has provided medical services to the financially challenged, many of whom have little or no access to health care.  From Monday – Wednesday, SFC provides non-emergency services to its patients.  As a small town set in a rural area of northwest Arkansas, Siloam Springs has a population close to 14,000, a number that has grown rapidly since 2000.  In addition, 90% of SFC patients earn annual incomes of less than $20,000.  As a result, the demand for services has exceeded the facility’s capacity.  Through funding made possible by the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, SFC will expand their clinic hours, increase their medical staff, implement a pharmaceutical program, and add a medical administrator.  Overall, these objectives will allow the clinic to serve more patients; improve the quality and consistency of patient care; provide low/no costs on medications; and expand on their overall existing programs.
  

Third Avenue Charitable Organization, Inc. (TACO) provides health and healing services to the homeless, elderly, and working poor of downtown San Diego.  Their target audience of 15,000 people is highly underserved.  Since 1996, TACO has provided patients with a safe and welcoming place where healing of mind, body, and spirit happens for everyone.  In collaboration with the University of San Diego School of Medicine and others, the organization provides the only freestanding, no cost medical clinic in central San Diego.  Among the free services offered are medical, dental, pharmaceutical, mental health, acupuncture, health education, and homeless outreach.  Through funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, TACO can increase the number of unduplicated patients served by 30%.  The program looks to establish control over hypertension; improve glycemic control; provide caring case management; and create a program that will extend a loving community to homeless people dying of terminal illnesses.  Overall, TACO’s initiatives will provide the medically underserved residents and homeless people of downtown San Diego with compassionate health care.



2006 Leadership Award Recipients

Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort
EXCELth, Inc.
New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA

EXCELth, Inc. is a non-profit, community-based health care organization based in New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA.  Since 1991, EXCELth has been addressing the health care needs that increase primary care capacity and quality of care for patients, especially those who are underserved.  Through the years, the organization’s community-based model has set the standard for service in cities such as New Orleans.

In the fall of 2005, Hurricane Katrina imposed a level of disaster that completely devastated the residents of New Orleans.  Health care centers throughout the area were entirely challenged by the tremendous amount of help that was required by many communities.  However, through that time of tribulation, EXCELth, Inc. displayed inspiring strength and honorable leadership in health care.  The storm devastated four out of six EXCELth delivery sites; forced its staff of 70, among millions of residents, to flee from the city; and displaced millions of New Orleans residents to surrounding areas, such as Baton Rouge.  Yet through it all, health care service continued for those in need.

With an unwavering commitment to the patients and communities it serves, EXCELth decided to take a completely proactive approach to health care following the storm.  Through resourcefulness and dedication, the organization was able to enlist the help and support of many of its displaced employees and relocated to Baton Rouge, an area that temporarily hosted many of its patients.  Collaborating with other area community centers, EXCELth was able to capitalize on ingenuity in order to provide services to patients in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas.         

Since many New Orleans residents and patients were displaced, EXCELth had to bring health care services to those who were unable to reach it.  Through the use of an EXCELth mobile services van and approximately 30 skilled employees who returned to work, help was provided to people in FEMA villages in or around Baton Rouge.
  

EXCELth’s commitment to their organizational mission through times of tragedy clearly reflects the positive spirit and resilience that defines New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.  Because of their dedication to community health care, Louisiana can be hopeful for a brighter tomorrow.

    
St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital
Houston, Texas

The catastrophic devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico until that time, forced thousands of people from neighboring states to seek refuge in Houston, Texas. In response to this mass exodus, both individual volunteers and large institutions in the area collaborated to meet the extraordinary need for aid.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital launched the “St. Luke’s Cares” initiative which provided comprehensive support to the city and local organizations’ relief efforts, as well as vital healthcare services and supplies to the evacuees. Among the hospital’s numerous endeavors were most notably the establishment of a 24-hour Patient Care Command Center that offered emergency care and medication, and also admittance to evacuee patients; the dispatch of five mobile healthcare units to assist 26 local Red Cross shelters and alleviate congestion at other hospital emergency rooms; and, the establishment of both a diabetes and medical clinic in the region. In addition, St. Luke’s Hospital raised nearly $200,000 by matching employee charity, and through in-kind donations, contributed food, clothing, diapers, toys, and games to agencies such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, United Way, and the Houston Food Bank. Post Katrina, the hospital sustained assistance for community –based organizations and mobile health service providers through funding from seed and technical assistance grants and facilitating the distribution of finances from a regional donor.

As a registered nurse living in Houston, Cynthia J. Hickman felt compelled to volunteer her professional services to Katrina evacuees in their time of need. Taking up the midnight shift at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Hickman immediately understood the sense of despair and hopelessness of those who were displaced in the large arena, surrounded by strangers with no privacy. She also recognized the disadvantages of providing care in this temporary setting, such as dispersed equipment and limited food and water. However, because of these obstacles, Hickman realized that nursing is not something that just occurs in a hospital, but a profession that must be flexible, and able to meet needs in unconventional locations.

Hurricane Katrina was a life-changing experience for both the evacuees and the devoted physicians, nurses, and committed volunteers in the Houston area that cared for them. The tremendous response effort exemplifies the potential of health care systems and the compassion of individuals to aid in human relief.

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