Community Engagement

Under the direction of Kineret Shakow, EdD, A Better Start, the preventive health education component of the Women & Children’s Service Line at AEMC, received a grant from the School District of Philadelphia to provide nutrition education to 27,000 low income children (K-8) at 32 local elementary schools. The school district’s EAT RIGHT PHILLY program is funded through Pennsylvania State University’s PA Nutrition Education Tracks program.

MossRehab Aphasia Center, founded in 1996, was developed to meet the long-term communication and psychosocial needs of individuals who have been affected by aphasia, a communication disorder that can affect speaking, reading, writing, and understanding language. Designed to be a warm and welcoming place where people can find information and peer support, as well as participate in on-going research and treatment, the Aphasia Center provides focused and meaningful intervention at strategic points in their recovery process.

Through a competitive grant from the School District of Philadelphia, the School-Based Social Services program places 11 clinicians from Einstein Behavioral Health (EBH) in 28 schools throughout lower Northeast Philadelphia. According to the Surgeon General’s Report on Behavioral Health, it is estimated that one in five children will experience a significant behavioral health problem during his or her school age years. However, it is also estimated that 70 percent of children who need behavioral healthcare, do not receive it. Behavioral health does not just mean having an illness, according to the National Mental Health and Education Center, it means having the skills and abilities necessary to handle challenges in life. Behavioral health advocates have emphasized that behavioral health is just as important as physical health in its impact on development and learning.

Jefferson Einstein received a grant from the Pennsylvania State University to support FUN (Families Understanding Nutrition) through September 2010. FUN provides nutrition education to low income families with pre-school children. FUN targets working poor households with children aged 3-5 and is provided in collaboration with 15 area daycare centers and 540 head start and pre-school classes under the School District of Philadelphia, Office of Early Childhood Education. Providing families with education and skills to make healthy eating choices is the goal of FUN.

The Women in Need (WIN) program, located in the Marion Louise Saltzman Women’s Center has been selected for the eighth consecutive year to receive a grant from the Philadelphia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Inc. Under the direction of Lisa Jablon, MD, FACS, the WIN program will use the 2010-2011 grant award to continue meeting the needs of uninsured women in our community who have identified breast problems by allowing them to get expedient diagnostic care despite their limited financial resources.

Participants in the WIN program are provided a continuum of breast care, starting with a complete examination, mammography review and additional diagnostic testing such as ultrasound, biopsy or additional mammography. Financial counselors provide on-site education and assistance in helping the women obtain health insurance for themselves and their families. WIN representatives also participate in events in the community and provide education on breast health, offer information on the availability of services through the WIN program as well as other breast health programs in the area, and direct participants to screening services.