PHILADELPHIA-Two initiatives recently supported by Penn Medicine CAREs grants aim to support the community through increasing access to digital technology and health programs, and an additional 31 projects from employees across Penn Medicine who volunteer to support their communities were awarded CAREs grants this past quarter. Since 2012, the CAREs Grant program has provided more than $820,000 in funding to over 800 service initiatives across the regions Penn Medicine serves.
Bhavya Ancha, a second-year medical student in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is using CAREs funding to help create a computer lab at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Southwest Philadelphia. The goal is to increase computer skills for the churchgoers and to use the lab to provide health education sessions, which could help increase health literacy. She also plans to tap into experts at Penn to record health sessions for the community, with the help of fellow students.
"The world has had to be creative in orienting to a virtual landscape because of the pandemic, and this is a way to directly connect the people to resources," Ancha said. "For example, the lack of digital literacy and access makes the elderly particularly vulnerable to negative social and psychological isolation. But by partnering with local community hubs like the Mount Zion Baptist Church and creating a computer lab, we can help bolster the resilience of this community."
New tablets, funded by a recent CAREs grant, also help participants attending Penn Memory Center's Memory Cafés access resources on site. Sharnita Midgett, an outreach coordinator with the Penn Memory Center in the department of Geriatrics at Penn, will help to coordinate the center's Memory Cafés program, which usually take place at Christ Church in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood. The program supports people with memory problems, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, as well as their caregivers and interested community members. In addition to funding new tablets, Midgett's CAREs grant will support four café events within West Philadelphia at Black-owned businesses, in partnership with Conquerors Community Development Corporation. Funding would also be used for entertainment provided by Black artists from the Philadelphia area.
"Memory Cafés provide a space for those living with dementia to socialize and gather with others while also receiving health education and resources. These events are helpful not just for education and even musical entertainment, but they protect against social isolation among those living with dementia," Midgett said. "And with support from Penn Medicine CAREs, we're expanding the program to partner with Black-owned businesses in the community, making the program more accessible to those from underserved populations."
Other projects awarded CAREs funding this past quarter include:
- Association Mariam Against Malaria: Idriss Mariam, a monitor technician at Lancaster General Hospital, founded the Association Mariam Against Malaria (AMAM), a non-governmental association that fights malaria in Chad, Africa. Chad has an extremely high concentration of mosquitoes, which puts 97 percent of the population at risk of contracting the disease. AMAM's goal is to reduce the infection rate by distributing mosquito nets to families in need, which Mariam's CAREs funding will help to support.
- Royal Generation: In June 2020, as the community was slowly reopening after the early impact of COVID-19, Michele LaMarr-Suggs, CNM, a nurse midwife at Penn OB-GYN and Midwifery, and her nonprofit Royal Generation hosted its first annual Community Baby Shower at Sister Clara Muhammed Park in West Philadelphia. Royal Generation provided many necessities for newborns and expecting parents as well as offered critical health and parenting information. LaMarr-Suggs' current grant will help provide care, information, baby essentials, and free food-continuing her efforts to support the community with Royal Generation.
- NonStopAction: For the past four years, Chanel Williamson Coleman, a blood bank technician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, has been coordinating NonStopAction, a step and dance group for about 30 to 50 youth in North Philadelphia, ages 5-18 years. Its goal is to help keep the children safe and busy. This year's grant will help purchase uniforms, healthy snacks, and hygiene products for NonStopAction participants.
CAREs funding can be used for projects big and small, or for new or existing community outreach efforts. Grants are awarded to employees based on the quality of the program, the needs of the community it aims to assist, and potential overall impact. To view all of the recent CARES Grant recipients, visit PennMedicine.org/CAREs
