$2 million in grants for youth violence prevention initiatives and jobs training, childhood development and 'aging in place' programs announced

 St. Joseph Medical Center details programs at annual public meeting

St. Joseph Medical Center today announced nearly $2 million in grants for projects in the City of Reading to reduce violence among youth, to train inner city residents for jobs in healthcare and to help prepare kids to succeed in school and life and another related grant of $260,000 to help scores of elderly in Berks and Schuylkill Counties remain safe in their homes.

The grants were detailed by representatives of the recipient organizations at the hospital’s annual public meeting today held in Reading, Pa.

A significant portion of the grant funding is being provided through St. Joseph’s parent organization, Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI).

"We are proud to announce these grants today.  The recipients have earned their funding, at least in part, because of the work they have done.  They are committed and talented partners who share the same ideals we do in achieving a healthier community. Each of them provides the framework for advancing health and human services in Berks community," hospital President and CEO John R. Morahan said.

The Grants:

1) The Reading Youth Violence Prevention Initiative is a collaborative effort to address youth violence by creating new opportunities for participation, leadership and economic opportunity for young adults. Since 2009, St. Joseph Medical Center has been working with local leaders as well as the nationally recognized Prevention Institute on a public-health approach to reducing violence. The project is supported with $840,000 over five years.

"Violence prevention isn’t often thought of as a traditional means of delivering healthcare, but it makes sense that St. Joseph Medical Center should be engaged in this effort," says Kelly Altland, Vice President of Development, who was instrumental in helping the hospital to obtain funding for all of the grants as the leader of the St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation. 

"We see the toll of violence every day in our emergency department.  It is an epidemic that is as persistent and pervasive as any infectious or chronic disease,” She said.  "But there is good news: most violence is preventable – but (preventing it) is difficult work.  It requires an investment of resources, people, leadership and commitment and that’s what we are here to talk about today.”

Scott Rehr, the Executive Director of Berks Connection/Pretrial Services, led the two year process that involved more than 100 community leaders, as they worked with the Reading Youth Violence Prevention project to obtain the additional funding. 

Rehr said the group's goal is to change the underlying conditions that contribute to violence in homes, schools and neighborhoods and to prevent violence from occurring in the first place.  His organization created a Blue Print (see attached) or click on this link for that Blueprint.

The group’s three goals are: 

· Support positive relationships and home environments for young people.

 · Enhance student and school engagement to keep young people in school.

 · Improve conditions in communities most impacted by violence.

 "The Blueprint is just words on paper.  Its implementation will succeed but only if we collaborate and coordinate our efforts and we maintain and grow the engagement in our community,” Rehr said.  “To do that, we need to empower families, provide safe and positive schools and establish healthy neighborhoods.”

**Read the Reading Youth Violence Prevention Project Blueprint for Action by clicking here:
http://www.thefutureofhealthcare.org/inc/pdf/RYVP-blueprint-for-action.pdf

 2) Building Brighter Futures is an initiative funded through a federal grant procured by the St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation from the Health Resources Services Administration. It will support health-care job training at the Langan Allied Health Academy on St. Joseph's Downtown Reading Campus, which focuses on the largely Hispanic population in Reading’s inner city.

This project will be funded through a multi-year grant of $700,000 and will recruit from the population around the inner-city locale to train students for careers in healthcare. It is a collaboration with Berks Technical Institute (BTI) and the Literacy Council of Reading/Berks and will recruit and train qualified nursing assistants and home health aides.  

"Our model is innovative and comprehensive.  It is expressly designed to both meet the urgent and unique needs of our community," says Joseph Reichard, president of BTI.   He said the model emphasizes:  foundational healthcare competencies; strategies, skills, and support services to promote greater job readiness and academic/career path progression; and language and literacy enrichment. 

He said students’ practicums, externships, and job placements will be at a wide range of nursing and rehabilitation facilities, as well as home health and adult day care sites, in the city and the suburbs. 

 3) The Right from the Start (RFTS) program helps kids be better learners by increasing their "school readiness."  The program was developed by the United Way of Berks County

Funding for this initiative, which amounts to $250,000 over two years, adds two new components to the RFTS program: The Ages and Stages Developmental Questionnaire (ASQ) is a scientifically-validated screening tool to identify developmental delays in children as young as five months old, and Play & Learn Centers (PLC) are informal, neighborhood-based parent and child activity sessions that will be offered throughout the city in churches, libraries and other locations.

Intervention prior to kindergarten has significant academic, social, and economic benefits, Altland said, noting studies have shown that children who receive early treatment for developmental delays are more likely to graduate from high school, hold jobs, live independently, and avoid teen pregnancy, delinquency, and violent crime.  She said such intervention can save society about $30,000 to $100,000 per child.

The Ages and Stages Developmental Questionnaire – identified as the ASQ - is a well-known, scientifically-validated developmental screening tool recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.  It is administered in St. Joseph’s Downtown Reading pediatrics clinic to help identify developmental delays in children as early as 5 months old who can be referred for further monitoring or early intervention.

Since November 2009, the Downtown Campus staff has administered 1155 ASQ assessments, and has found:

-         38 percent of the children assessed were developmentally on target for their age.

-         22 percent tested at borderline and parents received education and training to help their child become school ready and meet the developmental standards.

-         40 percent of the children were identified as “delayed”. The ASQ coordinator provided additional education and referred the family to early intervention with Berks County Intermediate Unit or Service Access Management.

"We have seen important yet distressing results.  The national average shows 1 in 6 children who were administered the ASQ have an identified developmental delay.  In Reading, we are seeing an average of 3 out of 5," Altland said.

The second component of this grant is the establishment of Play & Learn Centers (PLC) in collaboration with The Salvation Army. 

Mindy McCormick, the Salvation Army’s Director of Social Services described the Play and Learn Centers as informal, neighborhood-based parent and child activity sessions, with the goal of working with parents of at-risk children at the earliest stages in order to intervene and encourage healthy development.

"If parents and caregivers are provided information, referrals, support and opportunities to stimulate healthy development, the percentage of disadvantaged children entering kindergarten with developmental delays will decrease," she explained.

4) Neighbors Helping Neighbors is a collaboration between St. Joseph and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Allentown to expand the outreach and volunteer base in Berks and Southern Schuylkill Counties to help older adults stay in their homes safely for as long as possible.  It is also hoped the program, funded for three-years and $260,000, will significantly improve access to social services and health care.

St. Joseph's Vice President of Mission and Ministry Sister Janet Henry noted that "the number of elderly requiring services will increase dramatically over the next two decades. They are living longer and wish to remain in their homes."

She said that informal support networks provided by family and friends are being taxed more heavily because of this and that studies show that successful aging-in-place strategies minimize inadequate and inappropriate care as well as the overall costs of that care by offering a range of flexible services to fit the needs of the individual.

Pamela Russo, Assistant Director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Allentown said the vision for Neighbors Helping Neighbors "is to provide the benefits of friendship, companionship, assistance, and spiritual care.  We hope to enhance, in every dimension, the fullness of life of elders living in their community independently."

She said the volunteers will lend a helping hand to elders, serve as their advocates, and help them stay connected to their communities and to help them enjoy a fullness of life residing in their own homes and to participate as fully as possible in the life of the community.  She said the program will be offered in cooperation with churches and families, community organizations, health care providers and agencies serving elders.

As the annual meeting closed, hospital president and CEO John R. Morahan said: 

"The key word we have heard today is 'partner.’ As St. Joseph, like all hospitals, prepares for healthcare reform, partnering will be more important than ever before.  Strong collaborations with different organizations build healthy communities."

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EKGs from field lead to quicker heart intervention 
 
St. Joseph to honor EMS' Thursday for efforts in providing quick care, helping hospital to achieve Top 50 in Nation Award

Patients experiencing chest pain due to a heart problem have blockages cleared17 minutes faster, on average, at St. Joseph Medical Center, Reading, Pa., when the responding ambulance sends a wireless EKG from the scene to St. Joseph's Emergency Room.
 
For patients that can mean the difference between life and death, according to St. Joseph Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Liaison Michael Whalen.
 
“We always tell people who are experiencing chest pain to call 911 and, in looking at these response times, you can see why that is important,” he explains.  “The EMS crews in Berks are highly trained and they have the tools to give us what we need to prepare for every patient’s arrival.”
 
St. Joseph will honor all of the county's EMS crews for their efforts in providing swift care for patients, which was a key element in the hospital's recent selection as one of the nation's Top 50 heart hospitals.  The event will be held in the Franciscan Rooms on the 2nd floor of the Bern Township Campus at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15th.
 
[The Top 50 award was made by an independent firm, Thomson Reuters.  Read more on the award here:  http://www.thefutureofhealthcare.org/comments/204/blog.pl]
 
The wireless EKG system used in most area ambulances was donated by St. Joseph in 2008 and can transmit a detailed 12-lead electrocardiogram in mere minutes for diagnosis, long before the ambulance drives up to the emergency room with the patient.  The EKG gives a comprehensive picture of the heart through a rhythm strip easily interpreted by the trained eye.
 
Such advanced knowledge, speedily supplied, allows hospital staff to act even more quickly once a patient enters the emergency room.
 
The hospital provided 30 monitors free to all county advanced life support (ALS) emergency medical services (EMS) which have compatible systems with the hospital.  The project came about through the efforts of two doctors from Berks Cardiologists Ltd. who work in the Heart Institute at St. Joseph, Drs. Guy Piegari and Louis Borgatta.
 
Danyelle Whalen, a nurse and St. Joseph’s Cardiovascular Patient Navigator, said treating the most acute heart attack patients – someone experiencing a ST-elevated myocardial infarction or STEMI – requires intense coordination of a multidisciplinary team, “including the 9-1-1 Center, EMS providers, Emergency Department physicians and staff, and cardiovascular physicians and staff,” she noted.
 
She explains that each team member is “essentially part of a STEMI relay team which quickly and efficiently passes the patient through the continuum of care.  Since our processes and actions are measured in minutes, quick treatment, which is so vital to reducing heart muscle damage, is achieved because of these smooth and practiced transfers,” she explained. 
 
She said St. Joseph, which is an accredited Chest Pain Center, works in partnership with pre-hospital providers to reduce time to recognition and treatment of acute heart attack patients in the field. 
 
“As a team, we have effectively reduced time for STEMI patient treatment to 45 minutes, half the national recommendation of 90 minutes 'door-to-balloon' (from when the patient arrives at the hospital Emergency Department until the blockage is cleared),” she said.  "That is something that we could not do without the active participation and responsiveness of the EMS professionals in Berks County and it was a significant contributing factor in our Top 50 Heart Hospital award."
 

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