Mercy Medical Center grants benefit four organizations

Mercy Medical Center awarded more than $90,000 Monday night to four organizations as part of its Community Grants Program.

The grant recipients include JMJ Maternity Homes Inc. in Merced, Adverse Childhood Experiences Overcomers in Atwater, Merced Lao Family Community Inc., and the Alpha Pregnancy Help Center in Merced.

Janice Wilkerson, grant site representative at Mercy, said the medical center chooses different areas to focus on every year with the grants. This year, the areas include health issues of the homeless, childhood obesity and teenage pregnancy.

Fourteen letters of intent were received and were narrowed to seven. Those seven agencies were asked to submit proposals and four were chosen. "In those (proposals) we had over $300,000 in request," Wilkerson said. "We didn't have enough money to fund all seven. It was a difficult decision to make."

The grants totaled $94,579, she said. Of that, $12,000 came from First 5 Merced County and the rest from Mercy contributions and Catholic Healthcare West, owner of Mercy.

Wilkerson said the program was started by Catholic Healthcare West in 1990, and was designed as a way for the hospitals to give back to the community. "To expand resources and strengthen the health and well-being of the community that we serve," she said.

Each organization will use the money to expand services or start programs.

Carrie Alexander, development director with Alpha Pregnancy Help Center, said the agency will receive $24,000. The money will be used to expand the organization's parenting program, Turning Points. The program serves 159 parents. About 80 percent of participants are first-time parents.

The money will come in handy as the agency serves a large number of parents.

"It will enable us to grow the program and provide the services to people," Alexander said. The program "empowers (parents) to care for the health and emotional needs of their family."

As part of the program, participants attend 25 individualized parenting classes. First-time parents who complete all classes receive an incentive of up to $150 to buy items for their baby.

The grant will help update equipment and provide funding to hire a nurse manager who will provide more nutritional and care education for the parents.

Dave Lockridge, executive director for the Adverse Childhood Experiences Overcomers, said the agency will get $15,000. The money will be used to work with the Merced Union High School District and other high schools in Merced County to help educate teenagers about the effects of adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, negligence and household dysfunctions.

"Teenagers are the next generation of parents, and it's our desire to break the cycle of abuse," Lockridge said. "To help them to recognize the effects of abuse in their lives and give them the tools to prevent the cycle of abuse being passed down to the next generation."

Merced Lao Family Community Inc. will receive $19,579. Houa Vang, executive director, said the money will be used to start a new program, Southeast Asian Healthy Living Project, to help reduce obesity.

The program will recruit 40 Asian families with children from newborns to 18 years old who are overweight. "We are going to outreach and pick those kids who we think are too heavy," Vang said.

After the families are chosen, he said, the organization will work with their children to help them develop healthier eating habits and promote more physical activity.

The progress of the youngsters will be measured throughout the course of the program, which will last a year. Vang said the children will be taught about high blood pressure and diabetes so they understand the long-term health effects of being overweight.

JMJ Maternity Homes personnel weren't available for comment late Monday. The organization will receive $24,000.

Brian Mimura, executive director with First 5 Merced County, said the organization developed a partnership with Mercy as part of the joint funding program. The recipients selected by Mercy that are serving children from infants to age 5 will also receive a slice of the $12,000.

"We think this is a very innovative way of maximizing services for children and coordinating how funds are used across different funders," Mimura said. "To get the most out of our money."

Checks were given to the individual agencies Monday night.

Catholic Healthcare West has awarded almost $40 million systemwide since the program began, Wilkerson said.

Reporter Yesenia Amaro can be reached at (209) 388-6507 or yamaro@mercedsun-star.com.

This story was originally published January 25, 2011 at 5:48 AM with the headline "Mercy Medical Center grants benefit four organizations."