For Immediate  Release	Contact: Lynne Ayres
April 19, 2002	614-221-7614
	lynnea@ohanet.org

Ohio Hospitals Using Tobacco Funds to Improve Quality of Life

COLUMBUS – Sixteen hospitals throughout Ohio are receiving a combined total of $240,000 in grants to assist persons suffering from chronic pulmonary disease.  The Foundation for Healthy Communities, a charitable arm of the Ohio Hospital Association, approved  $15,000 grants for existing pulmonary rehabilitation programs at each of the 16 large and small institutions throughout the state.

The distribution of these funds completes the foundation’s distribution of $1.4 million received from the Ohio Public Health Priorities Trust Fund, created out of the national tobacco settlement. Previous grants made last fall are being used to teach breathing techniques, proper nutrition and modified exercises to increase lung capacity at 30 other hospitals throughout the state.

Another effective use of these dollars is to assist chronic pulmonary disease patients with transportation to their appointments so they can continue to work at improving their quality of life and breathing capacity, said Lynne Ayres, director of the Foundation. In some cases, pulmonary patients may be 50 miles from the nearest institution offering pulmonary rehabilitation and they may need to obtain services more than once a week. “These funds are providing a lifeline for people to make their scheduled appointments and maintain momentum toward improvement,” Ayres said.  

The health care institutions awarded the $15,000 grants are:

• Holzer Hospital Foundation, Gallipolis
• Mount Carmel Foundation, Columbus
• Wood County Hospital, Bowling Green
• Hillcrest Hospital, Mayfield Heights
• Defiance Hospital
• Harrison Community Hospital, Cadiz
• Kettering Medical Center
• St. Charles Mercy Hospital, Oregon
• Humility of Mary Health Partners, Youngstown
• Southwest General Health Center, Middleburg Heights
• The MetroHealth Foundation, Cleveland
• Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospital Foundation, Columbus
• MedCentral Health System, Mansfield
• Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center, Cambridge
• St. John West Shore Hospital of UHHS/CSAHS-Cuyahoga, Inc., Westlake
• Drake Center, Cincinnati

The Foundation for Healthy Communities was created and endowed by Ohio hospitals in 1994 to promote creative collaboration for better health. It encourages hospitals and health systems to move beyond traditional roles of healing illness and injury and develop promising methods for promoting healthy lifestyles.

The Foundation is sponsored by the Ohio Hospital Association, OHA represents more than 170 hospitals and 40 health systems with more than 200,000 employees throughout Ohio. OHA’s mission is to provide leadership. OHA works with its members in meeting the health care needs and improving health status of the communities they serve. Visit and learn more about OHA and the Foundation for Healthy Communities at www.ohanet.org.

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