Methodist Healthcare Ministries gives $830,000 to 7 organizations

San Antonio-based Methodist Healthcare Ministries awarded $830,000 in grants Oct. 24 to seven Southwest Texas organizations.
The money is intended to provide healthcare services to uninsured families in Corpus Christi, Laredo and metropolitan San Antonio.
Grants went to:
> San Antonio Food Bank—$330,000 for children’s health benefits enrollment in 16 counties around San Antonio.
> Driscoll Oral Health Project, Corpus Christi—$175,858 to prevent dental caries in at least 1,000 children between 6 and 18 months old.
> Border Regional Academy Health Center, Laredo—$170,090 for dental equipment in the Texas/Mexico Border Regional Academic Health Center for Dental Workforce Training and Dental Care Access. That center in Laredo is being established by the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio.
> Brighton School, San Antonio—$57,768 to support the school’s Parent Alliance for Learning and Support program with autistic students.
> Ministerio de Salud Program, San Antonio—$35,000 to promote health-care access in ZIP Code 78204. The program is a joint effort of St. Philip of Jesus Roman Catholic Parish and the University of the Incarnate Word.
> SMILES Project, Corpus Christi—$35,000 for equipment for the Texas Dental Association’s “Texas Mission of Mercy” in Corpus Christi next year. Volunteer dental professionals are to provide several days of free care.
> Mission 911, Corpus Christi—$26,800 to help fund a licensed clinical dependency counselor position for the “Positive Change Program” with the homeless.
The October awards bring the total of Methodist Healthcare Ministries grants for 2007 to $8 million. The money has gone to 54 different organizations.
Methodist Healthcare Ministries, which is affiliated with the Southwest Texas Conference, is the largest private provider of healthcare services to the uninsured in South Texas.
Formed in 1995, Methodist Health-care Ministries represents the church in the for-profit partnership that owns Methodist Healthcare System in San Antonio and Boerne. Half the profits from operation of the hospital system go the Methodist Healthcare Ministries for work with the medically underserved.
Over the past 11 years Methodist Healthcare Ministries has invested more than $139 million into healthcare services for the indigent in the Southwest Texas Conference area.