Winchester Hospital Awarded an ‘A’ for Patient Safety by The Leapfrog Group

Funds Will Help Residents in Winchester, Woburn, Medford, Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, Tewksbury, Stoneham, and Wakefield

Winchester, MA – Winchester Hospital, part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, announced today it is awarding $139,000 in grant funding to nine community-based organizations. These grants primarily will support programs and services that focus on food access, mental health, and housing stability – priority need areas which have experienced an increased level of demand due to the COVID pandemic.

“Winchester Hospital is honored to serve our community, and we are committed to working with community partners to give back,” said Matthew Woods, Winchester Hospital interim president. “We collectively aim to provide quality healthcare for all by reducing health disparities and inequities for those most vulnerable in our community. It is our hope that these grants will boost local non-profit organizations to help reach our shared goals.”

Grant applications are reviewed and selected by the Winchester Hospital Grant Selection Committee, which is comprised of hospital leaders and local partners from across the Winchester Hospital service area. This year’s grant awards are all multi-year community programs taking place over the next three years, 2023-2025. Grant recipients include:

Boys and Girls Club of Stoneham & Wakefield

Grant funding will support a multi-pronged program approach to addressing youth mental health, with specialized focus on LGBTQIA+ youth, which includes the evidence-based tool Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) and a structured mentorship program.

Burbank YMCA

Grant funding will support development of a youth mental health action plan, implementation of a social/emotional learning curriculum, Mental Health First Aid Training, and building of a youth mental health community-based task force.

Council of Social Concern

Grant funding will support the Council’s food pantry program serving Woburn and Winchester residents and a backpack food program for food insecure families in the Woburn public school system.

Metro Housing Boston

Grant funding will support free housing stability counseling and services to moderate-income individuals and families to prevent eviction, increase housing stability and economic self-sufficiency, and improve their overall quality of life.

Minuteman Senior Services

Grant funding supports the SHINE collaboration at Winchester Center for Cancer Care to provide on-site counsellors to help Medicare beneficiaries understand their coverage needs and eligibility and connect with community resources such as fuel assistance, home care, and food.

Mystic Valley Elder Services

Grant funding supports the Mobile Mental Health Program, which provides home-based mental health services to older adults living in Medford, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, and Wakefield.

Social Capital Inc. and Network for Social Justice

Grant funding will support the Leaders for an Equitable Tomorrow program designed to advance mental health awareness and engagement through a youth coalition comprised of high school students from Woburn and Winchester. The coalition will develop strategies and programs to address youth mental health in their communities.

Tewksbury Front Line Initiative

Funding will support a new program called Building LGBTQ+ Community Visibility and Resiliency, in partnership with the Tewksbury Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee and the Tewksbury Council on Aging. A series of workshops and evidence-based trainings will be implemented to bring visibility and resiliency skills building opportunities to the LGBTQIA+ community in Tewksbury.

Wilmington Farmer’s Market

Grant funding will support the Town of Wilmington in providing the equipment necessary to make all of its farmer’s market vendors capable of accepting SNAP/EBT benefit for the weekly summer farmer’s market. This program will increase healthy, affordable food access for SNAP-eligible low resource families and older adults.

About Winchester Hospital

Winchester Hospital is a 229-bed facility and leading provider of comprehensive health care services in northwest suburban Boston offering a broad range of surgical specialties, including general, bariatric, urologic, thoracic, otolaryngology (ENT), vascular, and orthopedic surgery. They also deliver care in other areas, including pediatrics, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, pain management, obstetrics/gynecology and a Level IIB Special Care Nursery.

Winchester Hospital is part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.