MEDIA RELEASE

In the fourth quarter of 2008, the Hawaii Medical Service Association Foundation approved grants for nine health programs and community organizations across the state. 

Among the organizations with Big Island ties are:

* Child and Family Service. The grant supports efforts to provide therapeutic treatment to neurologically impaired children with amplified emotions, self-injury, and communication problems. Parents and foster parents will also receive behavior training for effective and appropriate child interventions. Grant amount – $60,000.

* Hawaii Island Adult Care, Inc. The grant supports Caregiver Connection, a program that provides education and hands-on training for caregivers who work with frail mentally and physically challenged adults, including those with Alzheimer’s disease. Grant amount – $5,000.

* Office for Social Ministry. The grant supports the Mobile Care Health Project. Funds will provide a dental services safety net for low-income, uninsured and QUEST/Medicaid patients on the Big Island. Grant amount – $50,000.

* Organ Donor Center of Hawaii. The grant supports the Donor Registry Program, a statewide effort to register first-time organ and tissue donors through a centralized online database. Grant amount – $10,000.

* Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii. The grant supports a conference for professionals and concerned parents called Strengthening Families Because Children Matter. Featuring local and national speakers, the conference focuses on the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Grant amount – $18,000.

* University of Hawaii Foundation. The grant supports the Hawaii Initiative for Childhood Obesity Research and Education, a program of the Department of Pediatrics at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Funds will provide leadership in research on Hawaii childhood and adolescent obesity. Grant amount – $419,790 (over three years).

The HMSA Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt private charitable organization. It was founded in Hawaii in 1986 as a public foundation with the goal of stimulating research aimed at some of the pressing issues that confront Hawaii’s health care industry. In 1997, the Foundation was converted to a private foundation to allow for larger contributions from donors, such as HMSA.

The mission of the HMSA Foundation is to extend HMSA’s commitment to provide community access to cost-effective health care services, promote health, provide health education and relevant research, and improve social welfare in Hawaii.

Health plan dues from HMSA members and employer groups are not used to fund Foundation grants. Foundation grants are funded with annual investment income earned on its original endowment. 

— Find out more:

HMSA Foundation: www.hmsafoundation.org