LOS ANGELES (March 11, 2011)
–
Thanks to a grant from the George Hoag Family Foundation,
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s COACH for Kids and Their
Families® program will be able to expand healthcare services
to more homeless children living in transitional shelters in
Greater Los Angeles. COACH for Kids is Cedars-Sinai’s
“clinic on wheels” that brings high-quality primary
healthcare and case management services to medically
underserved children in their neighborhoods where they live
and attend school – at no cost to families. The $20,000
grant provides funding to give children comprehensive
screenings, immunizations, early treatment of episodic
illnesses, laboratory tests, medications, healthcare
education, and more. In 2010, COACH for Kids provided more
than 25,000 healthcare services for children in underserved
communities in Los Angeles County.
“Thanks to the George Hoag Family Foundation, our COACH for
Kids program will increase vital healthcare services
directly to children in greatest need,” said Thomas M.
Priselac, President and CEO, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
“This new grant will help Cedars-Sinai expand our work to
help homeless children grow healthy under the most
challenging of circumstances.”
Charles W. Smith, the George Hoag Family Foundation’s
Executive Director, stated that the Foundation is pleased to
support the COACH for Kids program which serves underserved
and homeless youth and exemplifies the Foundation’s 70-year
mission to improve the wellbeing of our community.
COACH for Kids serves communities in Downtown/Skid Row,
Pico-Union/Central Los Angeles, South Los Angeles,
Inglewood, Lennox, Crenshaw/Mid-City, and Hollywood/West
Hollywood. The mobile units provide healthcare and case
management services at family homeless shelters, public
housing developments, elementary and middle schools, and
other community locations. The program collaborates with
more than 200 public and private community organizations,
including Upward Bound House, Children’s Health Fund, local
Head Start Centers, and the Los Angeles Unified School
District.
In fiscal year 2010, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s financial
contribution to Community Benefit programs and services
totaled $502.4 million, reflecting a vital part of its
mission. This contribution includes free and part-pay care
for the uninsured and those with limited means, the unpaid
costs of government programs such as Medicare, clinical
research, education for health professionals, and hundreds
of community service programs. For more than 100 years,
Cedars-Sinai, the largest nonprofit, private medical center
in the Western United States, has been committed to meeting
the health needs of the community. For more information on
Cedars-Sinai and the Medical Center’s Community Benefit
programs and services, visit
http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/Community-Benefit/.