| Accomplishments Accomplishments
- By focusing resources on community-based programs serving the health needs of
the indigent and medically underserved, St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities
(SLEHC) has had a significant community impact through its philanthropic giving.
- Since its inception
in March 1997, SLEHC has invested a total of $33 million in 375 community-based
programs. About seventy five percent of these grants support health programs in
the greater Houston area, with the remaining going to programs throughout the
Diocese of Texas. In addition to the greater Houston area, organizations were
funded in Crockett, Beaumont, Freeport, Lufkin, Waco, Austin, Tyler and in Brazos,
Fort Bend, Galveston, Matagorda, Waller and Washington Counties.
Early
Focus on Health and Well Being of Children - 159
grants totaling $13.7 million have been awarded to date for children and families,
accounting for 41% of grants made. Programs include perinatal support, dental
services, after school programs, adolescent clinics, immunization initiatives,
childcare services, school-based health clinics and mental health services.
- SLEHC
has published and includes on its website, special reports on the status of Maternal
and Child Health in the Diocese and a unique "index
of child well-being" for counties and communities across the Diocese
of Texas.
SLEHC
has also identified several additional areas of focus: - End
of Life Issues
- Homelessness
- Mobile
Health Services
- Congregational
Health Ministries
Through
its innovative Needs Assessment process, SLEHC has also created the Community
Health Information System (CHIS) an online interactive resource
of both quantitative and qualitative information about the 57-counties making
up the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. It currently contains extensive information
such as population statistics (census, ethnicity, sex, births, deaths) and community
resources (churches, hospitals, medical professionals, public parks, schools).
Also, CHIS features the Community
Health Report Card. The report cards contain rankings by social,
physical, health and resource indicators in a graphical format by county. Comparisons
can be made among all 57 counties, with state and national comparisons for each
indicator.
Key Initiatives
SLEHC
has also sought consultation from all the mobile health service providers in the
Greater Houston Area to form the Greater
Houston Mobile Health Forum (MHF). In addition,
the East
End Healthy Children Collaborative is a partnership
of eight individual agencies working together to target children 0-18 who live
in the East End community of Houston, Texas. |