CHARLESTON, W.VA. | AUGUST 22, 2023

We are thrilled to announce the winners of our 50th Anniversary Grant Program, who will collectively receive more than $100,000 in awards to help improve health care and health equity. The winning programs focus on a range of issues, including health literacy education, support for clinician health and wellness, education for women's health, preventive health education for middle school youth, and health outreach to senior citizens in underserved communities.

The winners of the grant program are as follows:

• Lori's Hands Charm City Scholars Initiative, Baltimore, MD, will create specialized, stipend internships for black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), low income, and/or first-generation college students who are pursuing careers in healthcare. Interns will advance Lori's Hands unique community health service learning model that provides instrumental and social support to community members with chronic illness, fostering a more equitable aging experience for Baltimoreans.

• The Medical Society of Virginia Foundation, SafeHaven^(TM) Coaching Network, Richmond, VA, will bolster the health and wellness coaching resources available to the healthcare community. The Coaching Network will build a foundation of peer health and wellness coaches for healthcare professionals and increase access to confidential and protected well-being coaching services for the healthcare community. This will remove barriers that prevent providers from addressing their well-being and lower clinician burnout statistics.

• Literacy Delaware, Demystifying the Healthcare Journey, Wilmington, DE, will develop a health literacy education program for dialysis patients and their families to close the health equity gap. The main goal of this program is to improve patients' understanding and management of their health by providing them with the skills and tools necessary to navigate their journey to improve their health outcomes.

• Think Kids, West Virginia Wraparound Intensive Support in Enrollment (WV WISE), Charleston, WV, will create a model of person-centered benefits enrollment assistance that overcomes stigma and galvanizes local programs to address health disparities. The goal is to test this model in Hinton, West Virginia, evaluate its efficacy and impact, document the successes and challenges. If successful, the organization will look to replicate WV WISE in other rural settings in WV.

• Grassroots Health, College Athlete Health Education Program for Middle School Students, Baltimore, MD/Philadelphia, PA, will recruit and train 100 college athletes in Washington DC and Philadelphia to deliver weekly sports-based health education modules for 10 weeks in 13 under-resourced (Title 1) middle schools. The project is an investment in both preventive health education for middle school youth AND volunteer/peer training in a health-related field for the college student volunteer program facilitators.

• West Virginia Osteopathic School of Medicine, Women Interested in Staying Healthy (WISH), Lewisburg, WV, will provide support, encouragement, nutrition education, and exercise opportunities for women in Greenbrier County through a bi-weekly meeting that incorporates a professional dietician, a professional strength trainer/exercise physiologist, and physician counseling on weight loss and healthy lifestyle.

Quality Insights CEO, Sven T. Berg, expressed his gratitude to the applicants while congratulating the winners and looking forward to the successful implementation of their grants.

"We were impressed with the quality of all the submissions. These decisions were difficult to make, but we are thrilled to support these innovative programs that will make a significant difference in health and healthcare," said Berg.

The grant program is part of Quality Insights' commitment to improving healthcare and closing the health equity gap. The organization believes that by investing in innovative programs, it can make a significant impact in the lives of individuals and communities.

“We encourage everyone to join our efforts,” Berg said. Together, we can create a world where all have access to quality healthcare.”