The Diocese of Springfield’s Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA) Grant Program has awarded Mercy Medical Center $10,000 to help meet the basic needs of patients of the hospital’s Healthcare for the Homeless Program.
For nearly three decades, Healthcare for the Homeless has worked to identify homeless people living in western Massachusetts, assess their needs, offer health and social services, and evaluate the impact of those services. The Healthcare for the Homeless clinic addresses the medical needs of between 2,000 to 3,000 homeless patients each year and the program’s community health workers assess these patients’ social care needs and work with community-based organizations to find available resources for them.
The last two years, through its Diocesan ACA grants, Mercy Medical Center also provided nearly 1,000 Healthcare for the Homeless patients with food, clothing, transportation, temporary housing, and assistance with job and housing readiness, such as securing identification documents, moving belongings from storage, and acquiring essential household items.
“These vital funds not only make it possible to meet our homeless patients’ urgent needs when all other resources have been exhausted. They also help us establish crucial trust with our most vulnerable community members and create an environment where they feel comfortable and safe engaging in needed medical care,” said Trinity Health Of New England Executive Director of Community Health and Well-Being Mary Stuart.
“Mercy Medical Center has an unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality healthcare and social care to Springfield’s most underserved community members and we are deeply grateful to the Diocese of Springfield and its parishioners for their faithful and generous support of our mission to be a compassionate and transforming healing presence in our community,” said Mercy Chief Development Officer Geoffrey Hoyt.
“Our ACA donors are living the mission of our faith when they support the campaign,” said Diocese of Springfield ACA Manager Kathleen Harrington. “This grant reaches the very people Jesus Christ has asked us to love and serve in a manner that can transform lives.”