Natick Visiting Nurse Association receives more than $125,000 in grants

NATICK, Mass. - June 10, 2015 - PRLog -- Natick Visiting Nurse Association (Natick VNA), the area’s premier free-standing, not-for-profit home health care agency, today announced that it has been awarded several grants totaling more than $125,000.

Longtime supporter MetroWest Health Foundation awarded Natick VNA nearly $109,000 to support MetroWest Meds, the agency’s prescription drug assistance program. The program assists qualified individuals who are uninsured or underinsured to secure low-cost, discount and free prescription medications.

Martin D. Cohen, MetroWest Health Foundation president, said that MetroWest Meds fills an important need in MetroWest. “More than 55,500 people in our region lack insurance and face barriers in accessing prescription medications,” Cohen said.

Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable Foundation awarded Natick VNA $10,000 to fund MetroWest Meds’ Pharmacy Card program, which significantly cuts prescription medication costs for individuals under 65 years of age.

“The Foundation is proud to support the Natick VNA and its MetroWest Meds Pharmacy Card program, as we recognize the importance of this direct service to patients in need,” said Corey E. Collins, DO, Chair of the Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable Foundation Board of Directors.

A grant in the amount of $5,000 awarded by The TJX Foundation of The TJX Companies, Inc., will support Natick VNA’s telehealth program. Telehealth monitors, which are installed in patient homes, are utilized by patients to monitor their vital signs, which are transmitted to Natick VNA’s offices. If a reading indicates a significant change in a patient’s health status, a nurse contacts the patient for follow-up, thereby reducing the chance that a patient will seek medical help in an emergency room or require hospitalization.

The Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club awarded a $1,000 grant to be used to offset the cost of unreimbursed care Natick VNA provides to patients in Wellesley.

The Rotary Club of Natick awarded Natick VNA $750, which will be used toward educating Natick VNA clinicians in Reiki II. Natick VNA clinicians use Reiki to provide alternative treatment to patients receiving palliative care.

“We are proud of the services and programs we provide to the MetroWest community,” said Judith Boyko, MBA, MS, RN, CEO of Century Health Systems and Natick VNA. “But we can’t do it without the ongoing and generous support of our grantors and donors,” she added.

Natick VNA is located at 209 West Central Street, Suite 313, Natick, Mass., 01760. For additional information, call 508-653-3081 or visit www.natickvna.org.

About Natick Visiting Nurse Association:Natick VNA (http://www.natickvna.org/), which serves more than 20 towns in MetroWest, is the area’s premier free-standing, not-for-profit home health care agency. The Natick VNA helps patients of all ages live with the fullest degree of independence in their own homes, while benefiting from the agency’s state-of-the-art home telemonitoring technology, ComfortCare (http://www.natickvna.org/content66.html) palliative care program, cold laser therapy, and other advanced services.