Mercy Health invests $6M in Valley

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

During 2017, a year of change in the health care delivery in the Mahoning Valley and across the nation, the Mercy Health Foundation-Mahoning Valley invested $6 million into Mercy Health Youngstown to help further enhance or develop new and innovative programs and services that provide care for all aspects of life.

“The programs we were able to support address mind, body and spirit and address ever-increasing health disparities in our community as well as empower Mercy Health to be more responsive to the most urgent health crises such as the opioid epidemic our nation and community are facing,” said Paul S. Homick Jr., president of the Mercy Health Foundation-Mahoning Valley.

“No Mahoning Valley resident should go undiagnosed or without treatment, and everyone must have equitable access to health care. It’s our mission at the foundation to provide for all,” he said.

“Over the last several years, we addressed many health disparities across all demographics, such as providing dental care through the Kikel Mobile Smile Station and mammograms at the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center,” said Crystal Jones, executive director of grants and contracts for the Mercy Health Foundation- Mahoning Valley.

Jones said funding comes from federal, state and local grants as well as individual and corporate donors.

In addition to financial investment, the foundation has helped develop new partnerships in the private and public sectors with community agencies such as the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board.

This collaboration alone resulted in $140,000 to fight the opioid epidemic by placing peer-recovery coaches in Mercy Health hospital emergency departments.

“This partnership, to my knowledge, is unique among all Ohio counties which receive direct funding,” said Tracy Plouck, director of Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services.

To learn about programs and services supported by the Mercy Health Foundation-Mahoning Valley and how to make an impact, visit www.foundation.mercy.com/youngstown.