StarNews Online
By Contributed article

Posted Jul 7, 2019 at 6:00 AM
   

The awards, totaling $58,000, were for projects that address issues in the realm of health and wellness, WIN’s grant focus for 2019.

Five New Hanover County-based nonprofit organizations have received grants from Women’s Impact Network of New Hanover County (WIN). The grantees were introduced at WIN’s annual Grants Celebration Luncheon May 23.

The awards, totaling $58,000, were for projects that address issues in the realm of health and wellness, WIN’s grant focus for 2019.

MedNorth and Nourish NC each received a $24,000 grant.

MedNorth, which primarily serves the county’s uninsured and underinsured population with primary care, dental services and behavioral health care, plans to use its grant to enhance its services through purchases in four areas, according to CEO Althea Johnson:

    • blood pressure monitors for patients who will use them to manage and report their blood pressure.
    • Car seats for newborns whose families cannot afford them. Althea Johnson, MedNorth CEO, believes that having a car seat will encourage more new mothers to bring their newborns to the clinic within the first five days of birth for well-baby checks, and to visit the clinic themselves for post-natal checkups.
    • Wire loops used in a treatment known as Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP) to remove abnormal cells from women’s cervixes, therefore reducing the incidence of cervical cancer.
    • A new autoclave to sterilize instruments.

Steve McCrossan, CEO of Nourish NC, said his organization will use its grant funds for two programs that have shown great promise during recent pilot periods:

A partnership with Nunnelee Specialty Pediatric Clinics, which serve chronically ill children, that will provide – in the doctors’ offices – boxes containing 25 meals’ worth of food and a voucher for fresh produce and meats, to patients identified as suffering from food insecurity.

Toddler Tummy, a program that will send the same box and voucher with personnel from Smart Start and Coastal Horizons who make home visits to clients with young children.

“Food insecurity has a very debilitating effect on a child’s mind and body,” McCrossan said. “Food is medicine.”

Three New Hanover County organizations received small grants.

The DisAbility Resource Center will use its $2,000 grant to compile a health and wellness resource guide to help the population it serves.

Smart Start of New Hanover County plans to apply its $3,500 grant to its ABC (Attachment and Bio-Behavioral Catchup) Positive Parenting program, which helps very young children who have had adverse experiences form secure attachments to their caregivers.

With its $4,500 grant, Wilmington Lions Club will purchase a tonometer, a gauge used to measure the fluid pressure inside the eye – an indicator of glaucoma. The new tonometer will be used by eye care professionals working through community outreach programs.

To learn more about Women’s Impact Network, visit http://www.winofnhc.org.

https://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20190707/womens-impact-network-awards-58k-in–grants