Trinity Health Awards a Montgomery County Collaborative Half a Million Dollars in Annual Health Funding
PHOTO | Holy Cross Health
Trinity Health awarded a Montgomery County collaborative $500,000 per year, for three to five years, to implement public health strategies, on March 1 at an event held at Kevin J. Sexton Campus of Holy Cross Hospital. The funding is a part of Trinity Health Transforming Communities Initiative.
Holy Cross Health, Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHI), and Healthy Montgomery are all part of the collaborative. According to a news release, the money will help fund a range of public health strategies like reducing obesity and promoting tobacco-free living.
The strategies will target policy, systems, and environmental changes that will offer long-term benefits and will focus on communities in Gaithersburg, Germantown, Long Branch and Takoma Park.
“Holy Cross Health is proud that its Montgomery County partnership has been selected by Trinity Health for this multi-year, multi-million dollar grant to support and promote healthy lifestyles,” Kevin Sexton, president and CEO of Holy Cross Health said. “It is a logical extension of the work Holy Cross has done over many years in providing healthcare access to all and creating community partnerships to improve health. We are very appreciative of the high quality partners who have joined together in this effort,” Sexton said.
Michael Rhein is president and CEO of IPHI.
“Montgomery County has tremendous leadership and collaborative spirit across government, nonprofit and private sectors,” Rhein said. “This is an extraordinary opportunity to work together to address the root causes of complex health issues in areas of the county where we’ve identified some critical needs as well as notable assets,” he said.
Uma Ahluwalia, director of Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services.
“This grant represents an important milestone in showcasing the strength of our partnership between Holy Cross Health, Institute for Public Health Innovation and the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (MCDHHS),” Ahluwalia said. “It advances the agenda of Healthy Montgomery, an effort to improve the health and well-being of our County’s residents. We are humbled and grateful to be chosen and look forward to making important gains in the areas of obesity prevention and smoking cessation,” Ahluwalia said.
The initiative will rely on funding partners since it requires local matching funds. According to a news release, Montgomery County partners will have the opportunity to access low-interest investment loans in a later phase of the program. The loans will be through a complementary arms of the Trinity Health initiative to support measures that will prevent key determinants of health, including; access to healthy food, affordable housing and early childhood issues.
George Leventhal is chair of the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee and co-chair of the Healthy Montgomery Steering Committee.
“I am delighted that Montgomery County has been selected as one of six communities nationwide to participate in the Transforming Communities Initiative,” Councilmember George Leventhal said. “This designation confirms that our efforts through Healthy Montgomery to bring together stakeholders to set public health priorities, improve population health and eliminate health disparities are making a real difference,” he said.
For more information on the initiative, visit the Holy Cross Health website.
What good does it do to improve the health and well-being of Montgomery County residents, only to betray them and force them to die in their old age? (That’s what this record-falsifying gang did to my dad, see HolyCrossHealth.com.)