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GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) – Frontline workers at local hospitals aren’t the only health advocates. Many nonprofits have found themselves on the front lines. And millions of dollars in grants to nearly a dozen nonprofit agencies are improving the social determinants of health here in the Upstate.
It’s the end of the lunch rush at the Connection Cafe at Roper Mountain Science Center, and 20-year-old Joseph Zambrano isn’t cooling down yet. His mother, Nia, is his number one customer and drives the car to get ServSafe certification.
“Just to be able to go out and work, live, make a living and pay the bills — that’s a great opportunity,” Nia Zambrano said.
She referred to the Developmental Services Center to provide Joe with networking support, resources, and skills.
“The past is because of our relationship with CDS,” Zambrano said.
Her son Joe was born with Down syndrome and has been working with the Developmental Services Center for 12 years.
“Over the years at the Center for Kidney and Developmental Services, we’ve done exercise through cooking classes,” Zambrano said. We did group talk and occupational therapy.
Dana McConnell, the center’s executive director of developmental services, said each year the center provides services to 8,000 clients with developmental delays and disabilities. About 1,000 older children may receive case management from pediatric services.
“Adults in case management may need day services, residential services, some job placement and job training,” McConnell said.
It’s a population McConnell says will benefit from a $553,000 Healthy Greenville grant from the Greenville Health Authority in partnership with Prisma Health. The center will use the funds to hire five new case managers for an additional 270 individuals over the next three years.
“There are individuals with spina bifida, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism — and those are diagnoses that don’t go away,” McConnell said. “You’re going to be with that individual for life.”
In total, 11 nonprofit agencies received Healthy Greenville grants totaling $5.8 million. Board Chair Rev. Stacey Mills said she supports social standards for health.
“How do we help people achieve health in their mental capacity, in their quality of life – all of these options are not necessarily directly prescribed by a doctor or a prescription,” Rev. Mills said.
Additionally, the funds support the Health Authority’s moniker to make Greenville and the Upstate the Healthiest Place to Live in America.
Copyright 2022 WHNS. all rights reserved.
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