Lahey Hospital & Medical Center Awards $238,000 in Grants to Community Organizations

Burlington, Mass. – Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC), part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, announced today it is awarding $238,000 in grant funding to 13 community-based organizations. These grants are being awarded as part of LHMC’s ongoing community benefits commitment and will provide much needed funding for local organizations in support of their mission to meet their community’s needs. Of particular emphasis for the grant awards are programs and services that focus on food access, mental health, transportation, and housing stability — needs that were identified in the hospital’s recent Community Health Needs Assessment. Each year grant applications are reviewed and selected by the Lahey Hospital Grant Selection Committee, which is comprised of hospital leaders and local partners from across Lahey Hospital’s service area.

“These organizations share Lahey Hospital & Medical Center’s mission to ensure the needs of communities we serve are being met,” said Timothy Liesching, MD, interim president of LHMC. “We are proud to help support organizations that are giving back to their communities through our community benefits program.”

Grant recipients include:

Burlington Council on Aging Fitness Classes: Grant funding will support fitness classes for seniors to help them maintain or increase their strength, agility, and balance.

Burlington Council on Aging Memory Café: Grant funding will help the Burlington Council on Aging to hold one Memory Café a month to offer lunch and some form of activity or entertainment to provide a couple of hours of connecting with each other and taking a break from daily life.

The Center for Hope and Healing, Inc. (CHH): Grant funding will support “The Reducing Barriers for Underserved Sexual Assault Survivors” program to provide capacity building to CHH counseling staff to support BIPOC survivors of sexual assault and substance use disorder and conduct a needs assessment to identify barriers and opportunities in delivering support groups.

The North Suburban YMCA’s Livestrong and Enhance Fitness programs:  Grant funding supports Livestrong at the YMCA, a 10-12 week, small-group exercise and peer-support program designed to assists those who are living with, though, or beyond cancer to strengthen their body, mind and spirit. Enhance Fitness is a 16-week evidence-based group exercise program for older adults that uses simple, easy-to learn movements that motivate individuals to stay active and prevent falls throughout their life.

Housing Corporation of Arlington, Affordable Housing, Family Stability, and Tenant Leadership Development in Arlington: Grant funding will help provide an integrated set of social service programs that provide affordable housing, prevent homelessness, connect families to vital resources, and help low-income people develop as leaders so that they may advocate for themselves and their community.

Lowell Community Health Center: Grand funding will support the Health Equity Through Language Access Project, which ensures that each and every patient has access to health care in a language they understand, in all delivery modes including during primary care visits and follow-up phone calls/texting, printed materials and translated materials on the website and posted to various social media sites.

Merrimack Valley Food Bank, Community Market: The grant funding will help bring fresh produce to public housing residents. During the growing/harvesting season, the Community Market program will bring fresh produce and other food supplies to residents of four public housing projects in Lowell.

Metro North YMCA Enhance Fitness: Funding will support a 16-week evidence-based group exercise program for older adults that uses simple, easy-to-learn movements that motivate individuals to stay active and prevent falls throughout their life.

Mill City Grows: Grant funding will support Community and School Gardens to increase parent engagement in School Garden Education by hosting 9 family garden days at Lowell Public Schools and increase physical accessibility at Community Gardens by installing stone dust walkways in all community gardens, and building 7 tall, wheelchair accessible beds.

Minuteman Senior Services: Funding will support the Regional SHINE Program which provides Medicare beneficiaries, caregivers and families with no cost Medicare and public health benefits counseling at 20 locations in an 18-community service area including Arlington, Burlington, and Winchester.

North Shore Community Health Center School Based Health Center: The grant funding will support “To Create Safe Spaces for all Students to Access Services and Thrive” which takes place at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School and supports the Youth Advisory Council (YAC).

Place of Promise: Grant funding will support the Residential Addiction Recovery Program for Underserved Men & Women, which serves individuals that have tried and failed many other addiction recovery programs, are unable to understand and navigate the health care system, and have no financial resources.

Saheli: Funding will support community health outreach, and engagement and education for Arab and South Asian domestic immigrants and their families. Saheli will assist immigrants with a culturally competent Community Health Worker (CHW) who will improve access and engagement of health and safety services and will provide education and engagements with medical and mental health providers.

About Lahey Hospital & Medical Center

Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC) is a world-renowned tertiary academic medical center known for its innovative technology, pioneering medical treatments and leading-edge research. As a physician-led hospital, LHMC offers a legacy of care and education committed to putting the patient at the center through a multidisciplinary, collaborative and team-based approach. LHMC’s research efforts and clinical trials cross numerous medical disciplines, providing patients with access to the latest options in treatment and care.

LHMC is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.