Wednesday, January 30th, 2013
The Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment and Endowment (F.R.E.E.) has been honored by the Premier healthcare alliance with the 21st annual Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award for helping adults achieve independence through mobility when they have no other way to attain that independence.
F.R.E.E., a community-based, volunteer-led organization that provides mobility-related rehab equipment to the uninsured, received the Cares Award and $100,000.
Sponsored by Premier and its member hospitals, the Cares Award recognizes exemplary efforts by not-for-profit community organizations to improve the health of communities in need. The award was given during Premier’s annual Governance Education Conference, January 28-30 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
F.R.E.E. now serves significant portions of Virginia. They work with uninsured and underinsured adults who do not have access to mobility equipment and who need to regain mobility lost by injury or illness.
Following are this year’s award finalists, each received $24,000:
Avera eCARE Services of Avera – Sioux Falls, S.D.: a visionary telehealth model that has provided rural healthcare professionals around-the-clock access to specialty care physicians, nurses and pharmacists since its first program began in 1993. Using innovative technology, Avera eCARE helps rural facilities find the evidence-based, high-quality care needed to offset workforce shortages and increased demands for care in rural communities. (www.avera.org/ecare)
Courage Center – Minneapolis: a nonprofit rehabilitation and resource center that serves children and adults experiencing barriers to health and independence. Their mission is to empower people with disabilities to realize their full potential in every aspect of life. Courage Center specializes in treating brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, chronic pain, autism and disabilities experienced since birth. (www.couragecenter.org)
Every Child Succeeds of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center – Cincinnati: a home visitation program helping at-risk families ensure an optimal start for their young children. ECS provides home visits for first-time mothers who are young, low-income, single and/or receiving inadequate prenatal care – factors that tend to put their children at risk for delayed development, poor medical care, abuse, neglect and low academic achievement. The program is free and voluntary, begins during a mother’s pregnancy and continues through the child’s third birthday. ECS operates in seven counties in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky and has served more than 17,000 families through more than 500,000 home visits since 1999. (www.everychildsucceeds.org)
LAC+USC Pediatric Asthma Disease Management Program – Los Angeles: a comprehensive, mobile-based pediatric asthma disease management program that delivers asthma specialty care to inner-city children at no cost to their families. It was created in 1995 as a collaborative effort among the California chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, LAC+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The LAC+USC currently operates four Breathmobiles, 34-foot mobile clinics staffed by teams of asthma care specialists delivering routine, preventive, team-based asthma care. The program cares for 18 school sites, with an emphasis on the inner-city, low-income neighborhoods, and areas surrounding major freeways. As of June 2012, more than 14,000 unique patients have been treated at more than 75,000 patient visits.
The Children’s Place – Kansas City, Mo.: an agency that was created in response to increased incidences of child abuse. Concerned, key community stakeholders opened The Children’s Place in 1978, starting with the Day Treatment Program, a comprehensive combination of therapeutic classroom instruction paired with intensive child and family therapy. The Children’s Place has since added outpatient services in 1986 and parenting support services in 1998. Today the program is regionally unmatched in depth of services and is considered a community expert in early childhood trauma. Besides its three ongoing programs, the agency provides hundreds of hours of community training to area mental health professionals and prospective foster and adoptive parents. (www.tcpkc.org)
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