The Missouri Foundation for Health has distributed $1.8 million so far through several health-related grants for projects that serve Southeast Missouri.
That amount likely will increase significantly this year. The foundation has only been giving away money since last August.
Of the 98 grant applications from Southeast Missouri, 48 are still pending, said Heather McClurg, a spokeswoman for the MFH, which is located in St. Louis.
The foundation, the largest health-financing body in Missouri and one of the 10 largest in the nation, has approved its second grant to a Cape Girardeau organization: $31,500 to help start a new type of program aimed at helping previously hospitalized smokers put out their habit.
The not-for-profit foundation also awarded a $150,000 grant in November to help Cape Girardeau-based Cross Trails Medical Center establish a part-time dental practice in Marble Hill.
McClurg said the foundation gave out $9.8 million for state health projects in the last five months of 2002. The foundation serves 84 counties and the city of St. Louis, the same area that was covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield when it was a not-for-profit organization. The Kansas City area and northwest section of the state are not covered by the MFH.
This year, McClurg said the foundation expects to hand out approximately $36 million of its $850 million in assets.
Breaking up the region
The foundation breaks Southeast Missouri into two sections: the lower east-central section and the Bootheel. The lower east-central section -- which includes Washington, Iron, Reynolds, St. Francois, Madison, Ste. Genevieve, Perry, Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties -- has received $595,000 in grants, or 5 percent of the foundation's total grant contributions so far.
The Bootheel section consists of Carter, Ripley, Wayne, Butler, Stoddard, Scott, Mississippi, New Madrid, Dunklin and Pemiscot counties. The region has received $1.2 million in grant money, or 13 percent of the foundation's total -- and the second-largest recipient of funds after the St. Louis metropolitan area, which has received 49 percent of the foundation's grant money since August.
"Each month, we award grants and we look at a graph to see where the money is going," said McClurg. "In some areas, we haven't received a lot of grant proposals, so we're trying to make sure we go to public forums and give technical assistance. We're very sensitive to the areas we serve. We want to make sure all of our dollars are not going to St. Louis, although that area does get a large percentage. We care about the rural areas too."
Not all of the funds go directly to organizations based in Southeast Missouri. Instead, the grants may benefit the entire region but go to organizations based in St. Louis. For example, the foundation issued a $127,492 grant to the St. Louis Area Foodbank to provide food and hunger education. The money allowed the food bank to establish an outreach coordinator, whose travel area will include Southeast Missouri. The outreach is designed to educate and put on workshops for social workers with different agencies about the health services offered in Missouri such as food stamps and how people can apply.
Spending limitations
There are some limitations on how the foundation's money can be spent. McClurg said the foundation does not subsidize projects that the government has cut.
"We can't replace state funds," McClurg said. "But we look at the individuals being hurt by cuts, and we're looking for ways to give them the help they need. One of the issues we're focusing on is policy development and going before the Legislature and looking at how we can help solve the health-care crisis in Missouri."
Those eligible for grants are not-for-profit corporations, community organizations and government agencies like county health departments.
McClurg said each grant application is judged individually. The foundation staff receives proposals, and recommendations are based on the merit of the project and how well it will work in the community. Substantial consideration is given to how the grant will meet the needs of the uninsured and the underinsured.
The grant for the smoking cessation program was issued to Southeast Missouri Hospital.
Debbie Leoni, manager of Main Street Fitness and Wellness in Jackson, applied for the grant and received word of acceptance Friday. The program will be administered through the hospital with the American Lung Association's Freedom from Smoking program, Leoni said, and will give former hospital patients a program that doesn't require travel. Cessation classes in the past have been poorly attended, Leoni said, because people don't want to drive into Cape Girardeau for a class that lasts an hour.
Leoni said the grant will pay for staff and supplies of a 10-step program that can be administered over the phone or by e-mail.
"This will give them the ability to have the personal contact that you're supposed to have," Leoni said.
Almost 29 percent of Southeast Missouri residents smoke, according to the American Lung Association. That's more than 2 percent higher than the state average. Seven percent fewer people in Southeast Missouri try to quit.
The Cross Trails Medical Center has already put much of its $150,000 for dental equipment and staff to use. It has established a once-a-week dentist office in Marble Hill.
"We have only been able to recruit a part-time dentist," said Vicki Smith, CEO of Cross Trails, which has branches in Cape Girardeau, Marble Hill and Advance. "We currently have a full-time dental hygienist, and we were able to purchase two portable dentist chairs."
The MHF was created by Attorney General Jay Nixon when Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri became a for-profit company. Assets of the former not-for-profit health insurer were turned over to the MHF.
At the time of the conversion, the foundation received a substantial amount of cash plus 15 million shares of stock in the successor to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri and RightChoice Managed Care Inc. In the winter of 2002, a merger of RightChoice with WellPoint, a national health-care company, substantially increased the value of the MFH assets.
335-6611, extension 127HEALTH GRANTS
Southeast Missouri Hospital received a $31,500 grant recently for a smoking cessation program for those who have been hospitalized for smoke-related illnesses. Though this is just the second grant received by the Missouri Foundation for Health by an organization in Cape Girardeau, other projects have been established to serve the Cape Girardeau region and the Bootheel. Following is a list of Southeast Missouri MFH grant-funded projects since August 2002:ST. LOUIS AREA FOODBANK
St. Louis, Mo.
Project: To provide food and education concerning hunger.
Amount: $127,492 (August 2002)WHOLE KIDS OUTREACH
Ellington, Mo. (August 2002)
Project: To address unmet developmental needs of children.
Amount: $92,460 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
HEALTH NETWORK (SEMO)
New Madrid, Mo. (August 2002)
Project: To provide further development of the infrastructure of the organization, specifically training and strategic planning.
Amount: $120,000 DEXTER COMMUNITY
REGIONAL HEALTHCARE
Dexter, Mo. (September 2002)
Project: To provide nurse home visits and mentoring to pregnant or parenting teens and their infants.
Amount: $131,670 COMMUNITY TREATMENT INC.
Festus, Mo. (September 2002)
Project: To provide additional rooms and improved facilities for a domestic-violence shelter.
Amount: $70,000 HARRIS HOUSE
St. Louis (September 2002)
Project: To improve services provided by Harris House, a residential recovery home for treatment of alcoholism.
Amount: $149,200CURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY
OF MISSOURI
Columbia, Mo. (October 2002)
Project: To provide for a rural outreach environmental control project to promote education and prevention of asthma.
Amount: $75,000 FRIENDS OF REYNOLDS COUNTY
Centerville, Mo. (October 2002)
Project: To provide necessary equipment for tele-radiology services.
Amount: $36,078 WHOLE HEALTH OUTREACH
Ellington, Mo. (October 2002)
Project: To provide a program to seniors to enhance awareness of healthy behavior.
Amount: $169,145 CROSS TRAILS MEDICAL CENTER
Cape Girardeau (November 2002)
Project: To purchase necessary dental equipment and add additional staff for a dental program within two area Federally Qualified Health Centers
Amount: $150,000ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION OF ST. LOUIS
St. Louis (November 2002)
Project: To establish a training institute to care for people with Alzheimer's disease.
Amount: $225,000 FRIENDS OF BUTLER COUNTY
HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Poplar Bluff, Mo. (November 2002)
Project: To provide computer workstations, software and training to increase the efficiency of public services to a 23-county service area in Southeast Missouri.
Amount: $113,676 HELENA HATCH SPECIAL CARE CENTER
St. Louis (November 2002)
Project: To provide a drug therapy program to women and expectant mothers with HIV, which suppresses the HIV and helps prevent infection to the fetus.
Amount: $150,000 CURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
Columbia, Mo.
Project: To improve and extend an in-depth data-collection and awareness program for local communities.
Amount: $131,084 FAMILY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER INC.
Jefferson City, Mo.
Project: To purchase equipment for a telemedicine project to better serve the disabled and persons living in 13 rural communities.
Amount: $146,466NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
SOCIETY GATEWAY AREA CHAPTER
St. Louis
Project: To provide staffing to a new office that educates people with multiple sclerosis.
Amount: $97,605 DUNKLIN COUNTY CARING COUNCIL
Kennett, Mo. (December 2002)
Grant amount: $38,933
Project: To implement an innovative teen pregnancy prevention program in seven high schools in Dunklin and Pemiscot counties.
SOURCE: Missouri Foundation for Health
GRANTS AWARDED BY REGION
Through December 2002 Percentage
Region Grant count Grant amount of total funds
Bootheel 10 $1,206,699 13
Central 7 $869,357 9
Lake Ozark/Rolla 1 $75,000 1
Lower East-Central
(Cape Girardeau) 4 $594,952 5
North Central 3 $277,500 4
Northeast 6 $872,174 8
St. Louis Metro 38 $4,554,007 49
South Central 3 $410,856 4
Southwest 5 $663,178 6
Springfield 1 $149,972 1
SOURCE: Missouri Foundation for Health
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