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Upper Chesapeake Health receives $41,000 Grant from the Quality Health Foundation to Provide Quality Health Care to Low-Income Minority Residents

Columbia, Maryland – July 2, 2008 –The Quality Health Foundation, the mission arm of Quality Health Strategies, announced today a grant in the amount of $41,000 to Upper Chesapeake Health, an integrated non-profit health system that has a sound tradition of providing excellence in healthcare to the Harford and western Cecil County community for over 90 years.  Upper Chesapeake Health’s goal is to create an outreach program that will engage low-income uninsured and underinsured minority populations and provide them with access to quality health care.  Part of the outreach program would include language translators, transportation vouchers, and use of a mobile medical van to bring clinical services directly to communities. 

With the grant funding, Upper Chesapeake Health will be able to make an impact on the vulnerable low-income minority populations by reaching an estimated 1,500 people through health education, providing 1,000 patient visits, and helping over 350 residents establish a medical home.

“With the support of the Quality Health Foundation, we are confident that we will make dramatic inroads in moving this vulnerable population into the long-term solution of more stable quality primary care,” states Lyle Sheldon, FACHE, President/ CEO, Upper Chesapeake Health.

The Quality Health Foundation was formed in May 2003 out of funds from Quality Health Strategies, an Easton-based not-for-profit quality improvement organization with more than 30 years experience in conducting and evaluating health care quality improvement initiatives.  The mission of the Quality Health Foundation is to provide charitable organizations that wish to undertake improvement projects with funding based on the project’s potential to impact access to and quality of healthcare to individuals and communities.

“We at the Quality Health Foundation are happy to be partnering with Upper Chesapeake Health to directly improve the health of low-income minority populations in Maryland by providing greater access to medical services,” said Sheldon Goldgeier, MD, Chairman of the Quality Health Foundation Board of Directors.

Media Note: High resolution images of the award recipients are available up request.

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About Quality Health Foundation
The Quality Health Foundation is the mission arm of the Quality Health Strategies, a national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare quality in 26 states.  Formed in May 2003, the mission of the Quality Health Foundation is to improve the health of individuals and communities.  To achieve this goal, we provide modest charitable grants to organizations that wish to undertake improvement projects to impact access to and quality of healthcare and human services to individuals and communities.  For more information, please visit the Quality Health Foundation on the web at www.qualityhealthfoundation.org.