Venice Family Clinic among five local recipients of $1.3 million in COVID-19 Response Grants
By Chad Winthrop
The Jewish Community Foundation has awarded Venice Family Clinic a grant that will help keep older adults engaged and prevent social isolation.
Last week the Foundation announced that Venice Family Clinic is among five local recipients of $1.3 million in COVID-19 Response Grants. The other four organizations are Jewish Family Service LA, Jewish Free Loan Association, Los Angeles Jewish Home, and Martin Luther King Community Hospital. The grants also include support to sustain small-business owners financially impacted by the pandemic.
According to Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Marvin I. Schotland, the ongoing pandemic also has resulted in greater isolation of many seniors who lack the technology or knowledge to access essential care. It also continues to have a devastating financial impact on small business owners from the protracted crisis
“This a global health crisis of a magnitude never experienced in our lifetimes. Vast needs continue to emerge that require support. Because The Foundation is in regular contact with nonprofits, we are able to respond quickly as critical needs are identified, including funding for urgent physical and mental healthcare disparities and businesses that are struggling. With these significant grants to five organizations, our dollars will favorably impact thousands of individuals in need in the Jewish and larger community,” Schotland said.
The Venice Family Clinic grant is directed towards two ventures, the first being telehealth technology infrastructure. To keep older adults engaged and prevent social isolation, the grant will strengthen information-technology infrastructure to provide high-quality virtual services. The Clinic will purchase an integrated telehealth video tool enabling patients to complete pre-visit paperwork, have fully encrypted visits, and receive post-visit details via video, according to the Foundation.
The grant also covers a COVID care outreach initiative. The program will help create a strong social support system for an estimated 2,000 elderly patients and 5,000 seniors in the Clinic’s extensive network of volunteers, as well as retired staff members and community partners.
“Staff and volunteers are mobilizing to identify older adults at high risk of social isolation, conduct wellness calls and video chats, arrange for grocery deliveries, and host virtual small group activities,” the Foundation noted.
The grant for the Martin Luther King Community Hospital covers to areas as well, the first being space conversion.
“Hitting the Black and Latino communities served by MLKCH hardest, the hospital is addressing new critical needs to ensure its COVID patients – whose positivity rate runs double L.A. County’s average – receive proper care. With capacity stretched, MLKCH converted an entire floor into an intensive care unit to meet the unanticipated level of critical care needed for COVID patients. As well, it is using every other space possible to house patients,” the Foudation said.
The grant also supports patients who continue to experience symptoms or require additional care. Given the increased level of critical care needed, the post-COVID clinic has also seen a surge. MLKCH converted an existing space into a clinic where patients receive comprehensive services including pulmonary appointments, respiratory therapy services, mental health services, and continuing support from their ICU medical team.
Established in 1954, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles manages charitable assets of more than $1.4 billion entrusted to it by over 1,300 families and ranks among the 10 largest Los Angeles foundations. In 2020, The Foundation and its donors distributed $127 million to 2,700 nonprofits with programs that span the range of philanthropic giving. Over the past 12 years, it has distributed more than $1 billion to thousands of nonprofits across a diverse spectrum. Visit www.jewishfoundationla.org for more information.
