$3.5 million for local children’s health and wellness network
By new author
October 20, 2009From the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine:
By Richard Heck
Oct. 8, 2009
A community-university health partnership received one of 12 grants awarded nationally to promote the health and wellness of children eight years old and younger. The local funding will benefit more than 11,000 children living in Athens, Hocking, Vinton and Meigs Counties.
Project LAUNCH—Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children—is a federal project administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, to increase and address the physical, emotional, social, cognitive and behavioral aspects of child development.
The local non-profit children’s health network Integrating Professionals for Appalachian Children (IPAC), in partnership with the Ohio Departments of Health and Mental Health, has secured $4.25 million—$850,000 per year for five years—to fund “Project LAUNCH for Appalachia Ohio.” Ohio University will receive $705,500 annually to implement to the local project developed by IPAC.
“[Project LAUNCH] is a very promising approach to promoting healthy child development in a way that offers new hope to young people, families and communities,” said SAMHSA Acting Administrator Eric Broderick. During the next five years, the project will distribute $51 million to 12 projects nationwide, including the $3.5 million to the IPAC four-county partnership.
According to IPAC President Jane Hamel-Lambert, Ph.D., Project LAUNCH for Appalachia Ohio will bring together organizations “to sustain effective, integrated services and systems that support the wellness of young children and their families.” The goal echoes IPAC’s vision of combining community efforts to help ensure healthy development for all children.
