Print Article 5/1/2012
Home Nursing Agency's Healing Patch and Nurse-Family Partnership programs received significant grants from Lee Initiatives and were recognized in an article published in Our Town.
Lee Initiatives awards 33 grants to community organizations
May 1, 2012
Kirk Swauger
Our Town Editor
Johnstown— Joseph Pawlowski recalls the young man who attended church and programs at the Salvation Army in Johnstown.
When the man's toothache progressed into an infection and abscess, it was cleaned insufficiently and capped. He died from encephalitis, said Pawlowski, corps officer at the Salvation Army.
"It's very close to our heart," Pawlowski said.
Thanks in part to a $50,000 grant from Lee Initiatives, the Salvation Army is developing a dental center in Johnstown to provide low-cost and free care to poor individuals and families.
Last week, Lee Initiatives awarded 33 grants to community organizations throughout Cambria and Somerset counties totaling $470,776 – the largest amount Lee ever has distributed.
"I'm flabbergasted," Pawlowski said after the Salvation Army received the largest grant in the award cycle. "This will go a long way to helping us as we continue the process of developing this for the community."
Pawlowski said the Salvation Army has identified space in its Johnstown building for the center, which will provide dental care based on a sliding fee scale. It will be similar to a center the Salvation Army operates in Oil City, Pa.
"Our hope will be to start actually seeing patients in our center no later than February or March of next year," Pawlowski said.
Of the grants provided by Lee, 46 percent address the needs of children, said Anita B. Faas, executive director of Lee Initiatives.
"Each of these grants works to improve our community," Faas said.
John Augustine, chairman of the Lee Initiatives board, said Lee Initiatives used money from its endowment fund and rainy day fund for the grants during a time when the financial market basically was flat.
"Lee Initiatives' board felt that when the economy and financial markets were lackluster at best, and when non-profit organizations are experiencing funding cuts, it is more important than ever for Lee Initiatives to dig deeper as we partner with community benefit organizations to further their efforts," Augustine said in a statement.
Organizations receiving grants are:
• Alternative Community Resource Program, $27,000 for percussion and fhytymic intervention training for children with autism and other mental health diagnoses.
• Arbutus Park Retirement Community, $6,550 for a bladder ultrasound scanner to help improve outcomes in nursing home patients.
• Beginnings Inc., $5,530 for a support group and respite care for parents of autistic children.
• Catholic Charities, $15,000 to assist with basic utility expenses.
• CEM (Changing Expectations Mission), Johnstown, $7,745 to equip children with life skills necessary to become productive and successful individuals.
• Communities in Schools, $49,775 to provide students with access to needed social supports, mental health systems, academic assistance and basic human needs.
• Conemaugh Health System Community Health, $1,295 to purchase an automated external defibrillator for a community recreation center and provide training to staff on CPR and early defibrillation.
• Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, $5,000 to determine the preferred trail route and secure the right-of-way for 1.5 miles of hiking trail from the West End to the Conemaugh Gap Scenic Overlook.
• Cresson Ambulance Service, $25,000 to provide an AED for the ambulance.
• Epilepsy Foundation of Western Pa., $10,000 to education parents with special needs children on how to utilize programs in the community to enrich their children's and families' lives.
• First Book, Johnstown, $5,000 to provide new books to low-income pre-school and elementary children through organized reading programs to encourage ownership of books.
• Girl Scouts of Western Pa., $5,000 for health living education initiatives, programming across Blair and Cambria counties.
• Goodwill Industries of the Conemaugh Valley, $7,653 to provide systematic life-skills training for at-risk youth to Good Guides mentees and Learn to Work participants, and special training for Good Guide mentors in the "culture of poverty" and in strategies for managing stressful mentoring situations.
• Greater Johnstown Career & Technology Center, $11,382 to provide funding for Certified Nurse Aide certification, training in electronic charting and 24/7 access to training curriculum.
• Greater Johnstown YMCA, $3,611 to purchase a Cybex Total Access Cable Column so that those who are wheelchair bound, visually impaired or have upper body impairments can exercise and enjoy healthier lifestyles.
• Home Nursing Agency Community Services, $25,000 to fiscally support the continued implementation of HNA Nurse-Family partnership in Cambria County by improving prenatal health and pregnancy outcomes, improving child health and development and improving the economic self-sufficiency of first-time families.
• Home Nursing Agency and Visiting Nurse Association, $10,000 for Home Nursing Agency Health Patch, A Center for Loss and Hope Bereavement Services for Grieving Children.
• Johnstown Free Medical Clinic, $30,000 to provide free medical care to the uninsured.
• Laurel Highlands Alzheimer's Foundation, $7,500 to increase the respite care hours for the caregivers of Alzheimer's Disease.
• Laurel Highlands Council Boy Scouts of America, $5,000 to provide support to new cub packs in low-income areas.
• The Learning Lamp, $15,000 to expand community based free after-school program to four afternoons a week in Oakhurst and relocate the Prospect site to a larger space.
• Middle Taylor Township Volunteer Fire Company, $1,728 to purchase three large masks.
• Mount Aloysius College Office of Advancement, $18,000 to upgrade the hardware and software of three simulation manikins.
• NaAMI, $16,200 to provide education on mental illness for families, consumers and the region.
• New Day Inc., $10,000 to help underwrite expenses of expanding the after-school program to at-risk youth.
• Penn Highland Community College, $24,757 to increase clinical competency and employability of students enrolled in the Medical Assistance Technology Program by assisting in the purchase of supplies and equipment needed for certification.
• Presbyterian Home, $6,550 to purchase a urinary bladder scanner to enhance diagnostic efforts of the nursing staff.
• The Salvation Army, Johnstown Corps., $50,000 to provide start-up capital for dental center that will offer low-cost and free care to low-income and working poor families.
• Saturday's Kitchen, $5,000 to provide Saturday and Sunday meals for a year to individuals and families when other food programs are not available.
• Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, $10,000 to underwrite program expenses related to its Museum Healthcare Partnership initiative.
• Pitt-Johnstown Community Education, $5,000 to provide scholarships for low-income children, ages 4 to 18, for summer programs.
• Westmont Family Counseling Ministries, $20,500 to offer couples counseling to help them deal with the stressors in their relationship, resulting in a better quality of life for them, their children and their part in the community.
• Windber Medical Center, $25,000 for education and community outreach initiatives and to purchase a tower endoscope to be used to perform colonoscopies addressing early detection and prevention of colon cancer.
Copyright © 2012, Daily American
