15 York County Organizations Receive over $524,000 for Community Health Programs

15 York County Organizations Receive over $524,000 for Community Health Programs

(York, PA, November 11, 2021) – To address compelling health issues of the residents of York and its surrounding communities, Memorial Health Fund, a supporting organization of the York County Community Foundation, recently awarded over $524,000 in grants to 15 York County organizations.

One of the most significant grants was to York County Planning Commission’s Community Action for Recovery & Diversion (CARD) program. CARD increases public safety and community wellbeing by transforming the way justice, health, and human services systems work together on key health and safety issues impacting York County residents.

The Healthy York’s 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment showed over half the county’s population had reported at least one day of depressive symptoms in the last two weeks, and of that population, 21 percent did not know how to find a provider. “When we learned that 29 percent of respondents believed they would be unable to afford mental health services during a severe shortage of mental health providers, we felt we had to fund this program to meet the needs of our community,” said Josette Myers, chair of the Memorial Health Fund board of directors. These figures demonstrated that individuals with behavioral health needs often end up cycling between the justice system, homelessness, and emergency medical services, fueling a public health crisis with a significant criminal and family justice component.

Core leaders remain deeply committed and include the criminal and family bench, including project founder, the Honorable Craig Trebilcock, the York County Department of Probation Services, the District Attorney’s Office, and Dr. Matthew Howie of both the County of York and the City Bureau of Health. A Leadership Council comprised of numerous community stakeholders serves in an advisory capacity. This initiative is fully supported by the County’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board and its partners.

Since early 2020, leadership has been under Project Director Amy Evans. Ms. Evans has over a decade of experience in strategic planning for criminal justice reform initiatives through the County’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board. She also has extensive experience in collaborative work at the interface of multiple systems through five years of leadership of the York County Reentry Coalition.

The latest round of grants from the Memorial Health Fund include:

  • PennCares Support Services, for webinar trainings relating to the pandemic and focusing on grief, loss, anxiety, and depression.
  • Leg Up Farm, Inc., for its Horses for Heroes group program designed to provide an experiential-based mental health program to local veterans, utilizing trained therapy horses.
  • Suicide Prevention of York, for its Hope Squad for Older Adults program aimed at reducing suicides through education, training, and peer intervention.
  • White Rose Leadership Institute, for its Give Local York Healthcare Stretch Pool
  • York College of Pennsylvania, for its Simulation Integration in Health Education Settings program to develop health professionals who are better prepared to tackle the challenges of wellness in the 21st century.
  • Creative York, for a community-engaged project dedicated to healing through the arts and sculpting mental health conversations, awareness, and resources.
  • American Red Cross, to better meet the ongoing needs of people living with sickle cell disease by addressing healthcare disparities.
  • York County Community Foundation, to maximize the launch and reach of TroveStreet, an online platform and coaching service that provides important guidance, resources, information, and opportunities to help adults reimagine aging.
  • Friends & Neighbors of Pennsylvania, Inc., for its Coordinated Street Outreach Medicine program which provides informal wellness checks, first aid, and telemedicine to the unsheltered population in York.
  • Healthy York County Coalition, for its development of public health messaging to positively influence the creation of the York County Public Health Department.
  • City of York – Bureau of Health, for its Healthy Moms Healthy Babies program to partner with Leg Up Farms to provide expanded options for therapy for children with special healthcare needs.
  • CONTACT Helpline, for its Emotional Listening Support Hotline to provide individuals with a 24 hotline that offers a safe place to talk about their issues, isolation, and other concerns, guiding them towards finding a solution.
  • Family First Health, for its Pilot Medical Assistant Training and Externship Certification Program for Central York School District students.
  • Pappus House, for expansion of capacity through the creation of an 8-bedroom home for end-of-life care.
  • York County Planning Commission, for its Community Action for Recovery & Diversion (CARD) program that seeks to increase public safety and community wellbeing by transforming the way justice, health, and human services systems work together.

Memorial Health Fund transforms the way our community addresses compelling health issues to improve the complete physical, mental, and social well-being of the residents of York County. Memorial Health Fund became a supporting organization of York County Community Foundation in 2015. Previously, Memorial Health Fund was a supporting organization of Memorial Hospital.