December 20, 2006
Contact: Bev Pfeifer-Harms
314.345.5500 office

MFH Awards $885,639 in Grants to Southwestern Missouri Organizations

St. Louis -Four southwest Missouri organizations have received a share of $885,639 in grants from Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH). The funding enables recipient organizations to improve services to diabetics, increase access to dental care, promote smoking cessation in the workplace, and develop better strategic funding efforts. Two of the four MFH funding programs are new in 2006.

The MFH grants are:
Barton County Memorial Hospital, Lamar, $259,817. This three-year grant expands the hospital's Diabetes Self-Management Training program, and helps more than 3,500 county residents living with diabetes. This grant is one of eight funded under MFH's new Priority Area Grant effort - Better Self-Management of Diabetes - which opened in 2006 and encourages high-quality care for individuals with this chronic disease.
Fordland Clinic, Inc., Fordland, $27,200. Through MFH's Strategic Organizational Development program, this grant enables Fordland to create a strategic fund development plan so that it can continue to serve the future needs of the community for treatment and service.
Ozark Center, Joplin, $152,007. This two-year grant enables the organization to provide smoking cessation programs in hospitals, health departments and other businesses in Jasper, Newton and McDonald counties. This is part of MFH's Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative, a nine-year, $40 million funding effort now in its third year of grantmaking.
Ozark Tri-County Healthcare Consortium, Inc., Neosho, $446,615. This three-year grant expands service capacity at dental clinics in Jasper and McDonald counties, with a focus on helping underserved and underinsured Hispanic residents. This funding is part of MFH's newly developed Primary Care Access Initiative, which focuses on strengthening the health care safety net and improving access to care for Missouri residents. This is one of eight grants made across the state under this Initiative, for a total of $5 million.

"We are pleased to provide grants to these organizations as they work toward helping southwest Missouri residents through a variety of MFH funding opportunities," says Dr. James R. Kimmey, MFH's president and CEO. "Our two new programs - Primary Care Access Initiative and Better Self-Management of Diabetes - also add to MFH's efforts to ensure all Missourians have adequate access to high-quality health care options, and thus live healthier lives."

Established in 2000 through the for-profit conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in the state. MFH is in its fourth year of grantmaking, issuing more than $195 million in grants and awards to date. It is dedicated to serving the uninsured, underinsured and underserved in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis.

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