Photo submitted.
By Cecilia Nasmith
Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation has announced that it has been chosen as a recipient of a 100+ Women Who Care Northumberland grant of $6,939.72, which was presented at the group's Nov. 10 meeting.
Championed by long-time 100+ Women member Jennifer Darrell at their September meeting, the grant will support a pilot project to provide transportation to help Northumberland residents access the NHH Mental Health Walk-In Counselling service. That program has begun operations in partnership with Community Care Northumberland.
This new program means that clients of either NHH or Campbellford Memorial Hospital can book transportation with Community Care to attend NHH's Mental Health Walk-In Counselling, which is available to children (aged seven and up), youth and adults on Tuesdays (from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Thursdays (from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) at the NHH Community Mental Health Services office at 1011 Elgin St. W., Suite 200 in Cobourg. Community Care is then reimbursed for travel service by NHH Foundation from the fund established by the 100+ Women grant.
At the September meeting, Darrell spoke of the problems many Northumberland residents have in accessing this service.
“People living in our rural communities who don't have reliable transportation may never receive the care they need – not because the service doesn't exist, but because they can't get to it,” Darrell said.
“Today, we have an opportunity to change that.”
During her presentation, she shared her own personal story of accessing the service, and advocated for the support of the 100+ Women group.
“We live in a large county, where transportation is often the obstacle between someone in crisis and the help they desperately need,” she continued.
“The therapists are here. The clinic is here. Together we can make sure lack of transportation isn't the reason someone goes without the help they need.”
In addition to Darrell's presentation, the group heard two other presentations on behalf of nominated charities before casting their votes on where to direct the collective September fund.
The group follows a structured approach to grant distribution, where donations are allocated on a 75/25 basis – meaning the charity receiving the most votes is awarded 75% of the total grant for that meeting, with the remaining 25% distributed among the other nominated charities. NHH Foundation was voted the recipient of 75% of the total grant.
Attending November's meeting to receive the funds and provide an update was Director of Major Gifts and Campaigns Kate Ingram, Interim Integrated Director of Community Mental Health Services. Ingram announced that the new pilot transportation program supported by the grant had already successfully helped its first client.
For more information, visit www.nhh.ca/walk-in-counselling
