McHenry County awards $1.2m in health grants, from combating obesity to bringing heart care to food pantries

The McHenry County Department of Health has announced the recipients of Community Health Grants, funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act. These funds, totaling more than $1.2 million are intended to support COVID-19 recovery projects that align with the health priorities identified in MCDH’s 2022 Community Health Plan.

Here are the county recipients and the area in which they provided the funded services:

Behavioral Health

• Woodstock-based Home of the Sparrow received $50,000 to offer on-site counseling and crisis intervention. The funding “will enable HOS to deliver on-site mental health counseling and therapies to adults and children recovering from the trauma of homelessness, domestic violence, and other serious co-morbidities with the goal of improving coping skills, interpersonal relationships, and overall wellbeing,” Matt Kostecki, executive director of Home of the Sparrow, said in a news release.
• NAMI McHenry County and the Suicide Prevention Taskforce, based in Crystal Lake, were awarded $98,000 to enhance suicide prevention efforts, train high-risk individuals and implement support groups. e Suicide Prevention Taskforce were awarded $98,000 to enhance their suicide prevention efforts, training high-risk individuals and implementing support groups. The grant will allow for the training of thousands of people in so-called QPR Suicide Prevention, a method that focuses whose acronym stands for Question, Persuade and Refer, said Abbey Nicholas, co-leader of the McHenry County Suicide Prevention Task Force and NAMI executive director. The funding will also help support a countywide advertising campaign to highlight the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, start a new support group for survivors of suicide, Nicholas said.
• The Youth and Family Center of McHenry County, based in McHenry, was awarded $270,000 to expand mental health programming for youth and adults in McHenry County.

Obesity and Active Living

• Cycling Without Age McHenry County was awarded $43,000 to support its recreational rides for seniors. The funds will allow the Crystal Lake-based group to expand services from 13 to 19 elder care facilities and increase the number of trishaw rides provided annually by 36%. “With this funding, we can’t wait to give even more lonely and isolated seniors the right to feel the wind in their hair!” said Greg Glover, president of Cycling Without Age McHenry County.

• Veterans Path to Hope received $93,000 to assist veterans with weight loss, healthy eating, exercise and understanding the factors contributing to obesity and lack of self-care. The Crystal Lake organization was asked to collaborate on a program that provides individual coaching for veterans struggling with weight and related health concerns. “Receiving this funding allows us to offer this unique opportunity and impact the lives of a small group of veterans that do not have access to a similar service,” Laura Franz, executive director of Veterans Path to Hope, said in the release.

Diabetes

• Family Health Partnership Clinic in Crystal Lake was awarded $182,386 to provide an intensive program for patients with complex diagnoses with an emphasis on diabetes. Executive Director Suzanne Hoban said: “Because people without health insurance tend to delay medical care because of cost, our patients tend to come to us with multiple complex issues. This funding will allow us to dedicate staff to specific patients and assist these complex patients with navigating the myriad of needs and health care services they require.”

• Community Health Partnership of Illinois, which has a medical clinic in Harvard, received $52,932 to provide a Diabetes Self-Management Program at the Harvard Health Center.
• Cultivating Health Ministries received $145,342 to expand its no-cost Diabetes Prevention Services. The organization’s collaboration council works with partner agencies to address “the social determinants of health needs of the community to assist in providing a healthier lifestyle with dignity, respect, and compassion,” according to the release.

Access to Care

• Advocate Health Care received $157,500 to conduct a heart health program at McHenry County food pantries and train healthcare professionals in the distribution of and education about Narcan, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The funding will help Advocate increase support for food pantries by using the Nutrition Environment Food Pantry Assessment Tool to help identify ways to increase patrons’ access to healthy foods, and to implement at food pantries the community-based Love Your Heart health program. The program helps decrease blood pressure levels for residents with hypertension by providing free blood pressure cuffs and education on how to self-monitor at home, said Jeanne Ang, director of community health, North Illinois Area, at Advocate Health Care. Another piece of the grant will allow Advocate to train more health care professionals in Narcan administration and education.
• New Directions Addiction Recovery Services, based in Woodstock, received $52,840 to conduct a Connect to Recovery program in local hospitals. The effort provides recovery information in local emergency rooms, which allows the organization to “personally support these individuals, giving them a path out of the cycle of [Substance Use Disorder] that otherwise ends tragically in overdose or alcohol related illness all too often,” said Bobby Gattone, executive director of New Directions Addiction Recovery Services.

• Woodstock-based Warp Corps received $70,000 to purchase a van to more easily reach those in need. Street Outreach Supervisor Andrew Turner said in the release that the vehicle will allow the organization “to connect so many more members of our community to the resources they need to live healthy and full lives.”

The McHenry County Board has approved the distribution of nearly $28 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act money through the Advance McHenry County program to date. The program invests in infrastructure capital projects, workforce development and jobs programs, nonprofit agencies, special districts and local governments. You can learn more about the initiatives at the county’s website, mchenrycountyil.gov/advance.