In this photo, Director of Clinical Services, Marva Sadler, prepares the operating room at the Whole Woman’s Health clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019.
The Conrad Prebys Foundation has granted $8.1 million to 18 local health clinics as part of its Strengthening Health Access, Resources and Excellence Initiative, it was announced Monday.
In April, the foundation launched the SHARE Initiative, intended to provide two-year, unrestricted grants of up to $250,000 per year to health clinics that effectively serve communities needing improved health services -- especially Indigenous, immigrant, and border residents, a foundation statement reads.
The initiative aims to "ensure that excellent, culturally proficient healthcare is accessible to and in underserved communities," according to the Prebys Foundation. Grant recipients can use the funding in whatever way they think will be most effective for their organizations and the communities they serve.
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"After listening carefully to the community and conducting research into critical health challenges in our region, we know that health outcomes are vastly unequal across San Diego, and historically marginalized and excluded communities bear the burden of this inequity," said Grant Oliphant, CEO of The Conrad Prebys Foundation.
The organizations that received funding and the stated goals are:
- Alliance Health Clinic: $400,000 to provide primary health care for the low-income, immigrant and refugee members of the community;
- Challenge Center: $500,000 to increase access and quality care for persons with disabilities and the aging population;
- CSUSM/Truecare Mobile Clinic Partnership: $300,000 to provide free healthcare services to underserved communities in North San Diego County through a mobile health clinic;
- Family Health Centers: $500,000 to increase Care Navigation within the Refugee community;
- Fourth Trimester Project, UCSD: $300,000 to focus on female reproductive care after delivery;
- Indian Health Council: $500,000 to increase access to healthcare within the northern rural area of San Diego;
- La Maestra Family Clinic: $500,000 to increase care navigation for chronically ill patients;
- Neighborhood Healthcare: $500,000 to increase the quality of healthcare in the El Cajon region;
- Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest: $500,000 to increase access to care coordination for health;
- San Diego American Indian Health Center: $500,000 to provide access and quality healthcare to American Indian Native Alaskan community members;
- San Diego Family Care: $500,000 to expand access by increasing a culturally competent workforce;
- San Ysidro Health: $500,000 to increase access along the border and rural communities;
- Southern Indian Health Council: $500,000 to increase access for the Indigenous communities in rural San Diego;
- Survivors of Torture International: $500,000 to increase access to healthcare for asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrant survivor;
- Truecare: $500,000 to increase access to healthcare in North County communities;
- UCSD Health: $200,000 to increase access to maternal health for the Refugee community;
- UCSD Student-Run Clinic: $400,000 to provide access to free healthcare for uninsured patients; and
- Vista Community Clinic: $500,000 to provide access and quality care to communities in North County San Diego.
"These grants are designed to provide vital support to organizations that serve patients facing high barriers to excellent care," Oliphant said. "These organizations often have limited resources to cover gaps in service such as improving cultural and linguistic relevancy, increasing access to the uninsured/underinsured and recruiting and retaining quality staff."
