Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Foundation announces 2 grants to help uninsured, homeless with health care
Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Foundation makes 2 grants to help uninsured and homeless individuals in Boston, Berkshire County in physician-led programs
Waltham, Mass (PRWEB) January 22, 2004
The Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable Foundation announced today it has awarded two grants totaling $50,000 to help provide health care to the homeless, low-income and uninsured in the City of Boston and in southern Berkshire county.
Women of Means, a Wellesley-based nonprofit agency that provides free health care to homeless or marginally-housed women in the city of Boston, received $20,000, and the Free Health Care Center Fund in the southern Berkshire county community of Sheffield, Mass., was awarded $30,000.
Women of Means was established in 1998 by Roseanna H. Means, M. D., to improve the lives of women who are homeless or marginally housed through quality health care, education and advocacy. The agency provides free health care to poor and homeless women and their children in shelters and day programs in the city of Boston. It also trains and educates medical practitioners on how to identify and treat homeless persons.
The MMS and Alliance Foundation grant will cover the costs of administrative and clinical support for the agencyÂ’s volunteer physicians, which includes clinical supervision and training and the cost of updating and producing its Shelter and Telephone Directory.
The Free Health Care Center Fund in Sheffield is a start-up enterprise whose purpose is to establish Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires (VIM) - a free clinic to provide medical, dental, and mental health services to the income-qualified uninsured of the southern Berkshire region. Through a staff of highly qualified volunteer practitioners, VIM Berkshires plans to offer free medical, dental, mental, and other health care to income-qualified residents in the Southern Berkshire region as well as neighboring towns in New York and Connecticut. The region has an estimated 10,000 low-income adults who have no health insurance coverage.
The MMS and Alliance Foundation grant will cover some of the start-up costs of hiring staff, developing business plans and fund-raising efforts, and securing appropriate space. The volunteer effort is being led by Elaine B. Panitz, M. D., M. P.H, and her husband, Fred Panitz, M. D.
The FoundationÂ’s mission is to support the charitable and educational activities of the Society and Alliance and address issues affecting the health, benefit, and welfare of the community. It supports such services as medical care for the uninsured and underserved, shelter for the homeless, rape crisis services, childhood injury prevention, services for battered women, medical interpreters, and hunger prevention. Since its inception in 2000, the Foundation has distributed more than $450,000 to nonprofit agencies across the state. More information on the MMS and Alliance Charitable Foundation may be found at www. mmsfoundation. org
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 18,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the physicians and patients of Massachusetts. Founded in 1781, the MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. The Society owns and publishes The New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal Watch family of professional newsletters, AIDS Clinical Care, and produces HealthNews, a consumer health publication. For more information, visit www. massmed. org
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