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Historic Grant Funds Community Health Partnership

As part of our collaboration with Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, HCGH received the largest grant we've ever made to a single institution in 2007 - $950,000 over the next four years to support The Community Health Partnership.

One project of the Partnership is a state-of-the-art Behavioral Emergency Unit that opened in September. The new unit meets an urgent need — admissions to the Hospital's psychiatric unit have increased 271 percent over the past two years.

 
The Columbia Center of Chase Brexton Health Services held an open house in June for community leaders, including (from l.) Horizon Foundation board members Steven Adler and Michael Kelemen, MD, and Howard County Council Chair Calvin Ball.
In addition to the new psychiatric unit, this collaboration between the Foundation and HCGH will include a Center for Excellence in Geriatric Health and physician care of hospitalized patients served by the Columbia Center of Chase Brexton Health Services, a federally qualified health center located in the Knoll North Building in Oakland Mills.

HCGH has committed $2.1 million to the joint effort, for a total commitment of approximately $3 million from the two organizations.

Plans call for the Center for Excellence in Geriatric Health to focu  on an array of medical, health and wellness issues facing older adults, who frequently have complex health needs. We expect that the Center will also improve access to care for the county's lower income seniors and address emergency psychiatric needs.

In addition, current hospital facilities for older adults will be updated as part of the plan to better serve geriatric patients.

Howard County has the fastest growing population of seniors in the state. In planning the Center, HCGH and the Foundation are reviewing "the full array of programs and services that Johns Hopkins Medicine offers in this area," said HCGH President and CEO Victor Broccolino.

"We believe a state-of-the-art Center for Geriatric Excellence will combine Hopkins' expertise with the thinking of local experts."

Broccolino expects that the backbone of the Center will be care management services that allow older individuals to continue living in the community, supported by the appropriate health and social services coordinated with family provided care.

"This is a 'next step' in our continuing commitment to the Hospital," said Horizon Foundation President & CEO Richard Krieg. "I'm personally pleased that the Geriatric Center concept originated in talks between each organization's CEO and trustees. In the upcoming year, I expect that the Foundation will be alongside the Hospital as we try to build capacity in other areas as well."

Additional plans for the Community Health Partnership call for the Hospital and the Foundation to create a special partnership fund to assist the Chase Brexton facility. Chase Brexton started its program in Howard County with the Foundation financial and planning support and serves Medicaid, Medicare and uninsured patients as well as people with comprehensive insurance plans.

 

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