For Immediate Release                                                                            Contact:  Lynne Ayres 
May 14, 2001                                                                                                   614-221-7614                                                                                                                    lynnea@ohanet.org 

Elderly and End-of-Life Care Programs are
Focus of Grants Awarded to Hospitals

COLUMBUS – Respect for the station in life of older adults and the involvement of family members and community support organizations in end-of-life decisions are the focus of grants awarded by the Foundation for Healthy Communities, an arm of the Ohio Hospital Association.     

Five new community health programs are receiving a combined total of $50,000 in funding, bringing the overall total awarded by the Foundation since 1994 to more than $700,000.

Throughout 2001, the Foundation is seeking proposals sponsored by Ohio hospitals aimed at improving care to the elderly and those facing end-of-life care issues. The Foundation is funding several projects in which hospitals are collaborating with local hospice care organizations. 

“We can do much to improve the quality of life for older adults and those approaching death. The projects the Foundation is funding will demonstrate new approaches that can serve as models throughout the state,” said Foundation Director Lynne Ayres.

Grants announced today are:

·    The Community Hospital of Springfield, $10,000 for Dementia Care Mapping Training, which will train health care providers in a new method for evaluating and improving the quality of dementia care.

·     Fostoria Community Hospital, $10,000 for the Sunset Project, designed to improve the quality of life for the elderly, chronically ill and end of life patients, in collaboration with the nurse parish program.

·    Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, a member of TriHealth system, $5,000 to psychologically empower elderly citizens and teach them self-defense strategies.

·    Marietta Memorial Hospital, $15,000 to implement Respecting Choices, a program to identify and fulfill end-of-life choices for residents of southeast Ohio.

·    St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland, $10,000 to develop a nursing intervention program, Conversations for Senior Choices, to help those over age 65 understand advance directives and make informed choices about their care.

The Foundation for Healthy Communities was created and endowed by Ohio hospitals in 1994 to promote creative collaborations for better health. The 70 projects funded so far have provided community health needs assessment, smoking cessation and prevention, mobile and community health clinics and child immunizations, among other health improvement programs.

The Foundation encourages hospitals and health systems to move beyond traditional roles of healing illness and injury and to develop promising methods for promoting health in ways that will help all members of their community realize their potential.

The Foundation solicits grant applications twice a year for grants generally awarded in the spring and fall.

The Foundation seeks projects which meet the following criteria:

• expand traditional definitions of individual and community health beyond the delivery of health care services to reflect broader societal issues,
• encourage collaboration between health care providers and other community organizations to improve health status,
• demonstrate measurable improvement in health status,
• have the potential for replication in other communities; and
• are likely to have a long-term impact on communities.

The Foundation is sponsored by the Ohio Hospital Association. OHA represents more than 175 hospitals and 40 health systems throughout Ohio. OHA’s mission is to provide leadership. OHA works with members in meeting the health care needs and improving the health status of the communities they serve. Visit OHA on the Web at www.ohanet.org 

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