Community

The Bethesda Foundation has a serious commitment to improving the health of our diverse community through a dynamic community outreach grant program.

Breast Center Community Awareness

The Mary Jo Cropper Family Center for Breast Care screens nearly 40,000 patients each year.  Newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients receive educational materials as well as comfort items such as post-surgical garments.  The Center also provides community awareness of breast cancer and the importance of mammograms through health fairs, presentations and other community events.

Center for Abuse and Rape Emergency Services

The Center for Abuse and Rape Emergency Services (CARES) at Bethesda Hospital is an expansion of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners program.  CARES provides professional, compassionate care, comprehensive documentation and timely collection of forensic evidence to victims of sexual and domestic violence. The program offers a safe environment, advocacy, education, appropriate follow-up services and referral.   

Outreach Ministry

TriHealth Outreach Ministry is extending services into Butler and Warren Counties to provide health education and screenings, support group facilitation and integration of whole-person-health to address spiritual, physical, mental and social health.  Financial assistance is provided to purchase medications, medical supplies and basic household items as well as cab vouchers or transportation assistance. 

Pastoral Care

Honoring Bethesda Hospital’s Methodist heritage of compassionate care, the pastoral care staff provides emotional, spiritual and religious support to patients and their families.  The Pastoral Care department is committed to an inclusive expression of spirituality and offers the services of Chaplains, a Catholic Priest, Jewish Rabbis, a Jehovah’s Witness Hospital Liaison Team, and other faith-group volunteers.  In addition to providing spiritual and emotional care, the department assists patients and families with issues related to advance directives (Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care).

Pediatric Patient Comfort

Children are very frightened when they come to the hospital.  In an effort to reduce fear and provide a sense of comfort, pediatric patients in Bethesda North, Bethesda Butler and Bethesda Arrow Springs Hospital's emergency departments, same day surgery and the ambulatory surgery centers are given a stuffed animal.

Progesterone Project

A team consisting of a pre-term labor prevention case manager, social worker, dietitian and diabetic case manager works with Bethesda patients with a history of spontaneous pre-term birth.  Their goal is to improve subsequent birth outcomes with healthy full term deliveries.  Uninsured and underinsured patients receive a subsidy to cover medication to help prevent another pre-term birth.

School-Based Psychological Services

Placement of behavioral health specialists in three Cincinnati Public Schools provides on-site intensive clinical services to inner-city youth as well as consultations and support to teachers, administrators and parents. Students can receive individual counseling, group therapy, classroom-based intervention, psychological assessments, crisis intervention and case coordination. These services improve and enhance the social and emotional health and welfare of the students, reducing social and emotional obstacles to academic achievement. Additionally, teachers and school personnel are able to meet the needs of all students including those with identified adaptive difficulties.

Think First for Your Baby

The Think First For Your Baby program is a valuable community resource for at-risk expectant mothers who deliver through the TriHealth system.  The goal of the program is to reduce fatalities in infants under the age of one year from injury factors and unsafe sleep practice.   Participants receive prenatal education combined with a post-partum home visit from a firefighter or a bilingual social worker that includes childproofing kits, smoke detectors , baby gates and/or portable crib.  

Urban Health Project

Since 1992, Bethesda Foundation has supported the University of Cincinnati Medical School's Urban Health Project (UHP). Started 20 years ago, the UHP connects future physicians with underserved people in the community during an eight-week summer internship. Medical students who have completed their first year of medical school can apply for an internship working for area social service agencies. The physicians-in-training are assigned responsibilities including direct patient care to education or counseling duties at various community agencies.