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Healthy Environment, Healthy People: The Intersection Between Climate and Health
How is climate change influencing our health? Why does climate change have a greater impact on vulnerable populations and low-income people? How does the U.S. health care system affect the climate? How can health care systems improve their impact on the climate and the environment? ChristianaCare’s inaugural Climate and Health Conference addressed these topics and raised possible solutions at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center on the Newark, Delaware, campus on April 12. At the conference, the common denominator was this: An unhealthy environment can lead to illnesses and deaths from air pollution, high heat, contaminated water and extreme weather events. Health systems, government entities, community organizations and individuals all have a role to play in decreasing these effects. “Climate, the environment and health care systems are intertwined,” said Greg O’Neill, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC. “We need to pay close attention to this relationship so we can improve health for everyone.” O’Neill is director of Patient & Family Health Education and co-chair of the Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee at ChristianaCare. Climate change and intensifying health conditions Negative health effects are so closely tied to the environments where people live, work and play that The Lancet called climate change “the greatest global health threat facing the world in the 21st century [and] the greatest opportunity to redefine the social and environmental determinants of health.” At the conference, speakers addressed specific areas of concern. Asthma. Air pollutants, while largely invisible, are associated with asthma. What’s more, people who live in urban areas with little green space are more likely to have uncontrolled asthma, said speaker Robert Ries, M.D., an emergency medicine resident at ChristianaCare. And there’s the rub, he said: When people with asthma spend time in green spaces, it may improve their health. “In Canada,” he said, “some doctors prescribe nature – two hours a week for better overall health outcomes. Could we do that here?” Heat-related illness. Temperatures worldwide have been rising, increasing the likelihood of heat-related health incidents. Heat waves may be harmful to children and older adults, particularly those who don’t have access to air conditioning, swimming pools or transportation to the beach, said speaker Alan Greenglass, M.D., a retired primary care physician. Children visit the emergency room 20% more frequently during heat waves. Weather-related illness. Climate change is causing more floods, which may result in respiratory problems due to mold growth; and droughts, which may threaten water safety and contribute to global food insecurity, said speaker Anat Feingold, M.D., MPH, an infectious disease specialist at Cooper Health. Stress and anxiety. Climate change can affect mental health, even leading to “solastalgia,” which is distress about environmental change and its effect on one’s home, said speaker Zachary Radcliff, Ph.D., an adolescent psychologist at Nemours. He encouraged clinicians in the audience to keep this mental health concern in mind when seeing patients as it may become more prevalent. Cardiovascular disease risk. Frequent consumption of red meat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, the top cause of death in the U.S. It’s also unhealthy for the environment, said speaker Shirley Kalwaney, M.D., an internal medicine specialist at Inova. Livestock uses 80% of available farmland to produce only 17% of calories consumed, creating a high level of greenhouse gas emissions. By comparison, plant-based whole foods decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. They use only 16% of available farmland, producing 82% of calories consumed. This makes reducing red meat in our diets one of the most powerful ways to lower the impact on our environment. Health equity and the environment People in low-income communities are more likely to live in urban areas that experience the greatest impacts of climate change, including exposure to air pollutants and little access to green space, said speaker Abby Nerlinger, M.D., a pediatrician for Nemours. A Harvard study in 2020 demonstrated that air pollution was linked with higher death rates from COVID-19 — likely one of the many reasons the pandemic has disproportionally harmed Black and Latino communities. Similarly, access to safe, affordable housing is essential to a healthy environment, said Sarah Stowens, Ed.D., manager of State Policy and Advocacy for ChristianaCare, who advocated for legislation including the Climate Solutions Act, another bill that increased oversight regarding testing and reporting of lead poisoning and a policy to reduce waste from topical medications. Opportunities for change in health care Reduce emissions from pharmaceuticals and chemicals. These emissions are responsible for 18% of a health system’s greenhouse gas emissions. One way to reduce this number is for clinicians to prescribe a dry-powder inhaler (DPI) instead of a metered-dose inhaler (MDI) when applicable and safe for the patient and to give patients any inhalers that were used in the hospital at discharge if they are going home on the same prescription. Hospitals have opportunities to reduce greenhouse gases while caring for patients, said Deanna Benner, MSN, APRN, WHNP, women’s health nurse practitioner and co-chair of ChristianaCare’s Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee. The health care sector is responsible for 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the highest per person in the world. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions account for 27% of the global health care footprint. One way to significantly reduce the carbon footprint is to use fewer anesthetic gases associated with greater greenhouse gas emissions, Benner said. Limit single-use medical devices. Did you know that one surgical procedure may produce more waste than a family of four produces in a week? Elizabeth Cerceo, M.D., director of climate health at Cooper Health, posed this question during her talk. Sterilizing and reusing medical devices, instead of using single-use medical devices, she said, may meaningfully reduce hospital waste. ChristianaCare’s commitment to healthy environments and healthy people As one of the nation’s leading health systems, ChristianaCare is taking a bold, comprehensive approach to environmental stewardship. ChristianaCare reduced its carbon footprint by 37% in 2023 by purchasing emission-free electricity. ChristianaCare joined the White House Climate Pledge to use 100% renewable energy by 2025, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve zero net emissions by 2050. ChristianaCare has created an Environmental, Social and Governance structure to help advance a five-year strategic plan that delivers health equity and environmental stewardship. Nearly 150 staff members have become Eco-Champions, an opportunity to be environmental change-leaders in the workplace. In 2023, ChristianaCare’s successful environmental stewardship included: Reducing our carbon footprint by 37% by purchasing emission-free electricity. Recycling 96,663 pounds of paper, which preserved 11,485 trees. Reducing air pollution by releasing an estimated 33,000 fewer pounds of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides through the use of a cogeneration energy plant on the Newark campus. Donating 34,095 pounds of unused food to the Sunday Breakfast Mission in Wilmington, Delaware. Donating 1,575 pounds of unused medical equipment to Project C.U.R.E., ChristianaCare’s Virtual Education and Simulation Training Center and Delaware Technical Community College. “In quality improvement, they say you improve the things that you measure,” O’Neill said in expressing goals for continued success. In looking ahead, said Benner, “I really hope that this conference is the catalyst for positive change with more people understanding how climate is connected to health, so that we can protect health from environmental harms and promote a healthy environment for all people to thrive.”
Nurse Leaders Danielle Weber and Michelle Collins Named Fellows in Nursing Innovation
Two ChristianaCare nurse leaders have been named fellows in the 2024-25 cohort of the prestigious Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellowship Program. The fellows are Danielle Weber, MSN, MSM, RN-BC, NEA-BC, chief nurse executive, and Michelle Collins, DNP, APRN, CNS, ACNS-BC, NPD-BC, NEA-BC, LSSBB, vice president of Nursing Professional Excellence. These nurse innovators will work collaboratively to address a real-world challenge in ways that can be implemented at ChristianaCare. Weber, who also is chief nursing officer of Wilmington Hospital, leads ChristianaCare’s nursing staff in setting strategic imperatives, advises leadership on best practices in nursing, establishes nursing policies and procedures, oversees nursing education and research and creates a collaborative environment to ensure evidence-based care practices in both the acute care and home health settings. Collins leads ChristianaCare’s systemwide efforts to support nursing practice innovation, governance infrastructure and problem-solving, including a successful initiative in virtual acute care nursing. She also led ChristianaCare to achieve its third Magnet designation, the preeminent designation for excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. With a strong commitment to innovation in nursing, ChristianaCare is at the forefront of virtual acute care nursing. This entails experienced nurses practicing virtually in another location supporting hospital-based nurses by documenting health information, providing patient education, monitoring patient lab work, completing patient admission documentation and helping with discharge planning and care coordination. The fellowship, administered by Penn Nursing and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, is a one-year, team-based program for chief nursing officers, nurse executives and other senior nurse leaders that aims “to advance health care by powering up nurse-led innovation and leadership within health systems.”
The ChristianaCare Hospital Care at Home program, a national leader in providing acute care in a place most familiar to patients – their own homes – has reached a new milestone with more than 1,000 admissions since opening in December 2021. ChristianaCare’s innovative program enables patients with common chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure and diabetes complications, as well as infections like pneumonia, to receive hospital-level care at home through virtual and in-person care provided by a team of physicians, nurse practitioners, paramedics and others. Technology kits deployed to patient homes ensure round-the-clock access to a health care professional, along with twice daily visits from caregivers, medication deliveries and mobile laboratory services. “This program is a wonderful example of how ChristianaCare is building a better health care system and meeting people’s health care needs through innovation, collaboration and an unwavering commitment to providing the very best care for the people we serve,” said Janice E. Nevin, M.D., president and CEO of ChristianaCare. “We are proud to be at the forefront of hospital care at home nationally, through the collaboration with leaders like Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, who has championed this new model of care at the federal level; Medically Home, which partnered with ChristianaCare to help us design a program that best meets the needs of the communities we serve; and our own health professionals – we call them caregivers – whose expert care and coordination make this all possible. Together, we are creating health so that people can flourish.” ‘Just amazing’ for patients Patients are evaluated for the hospital care at home program when they come to Wilmington or Christiana hospital emergency departments. Those who can be treated at home receive a technology kit that connects them to the command center, powered by the ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health. With a touch of a button, they can access an expert team of ChristianaCare doctors and nurses. But hospital care at home isn’t just virtual care—the technology supports an entire care team that works inside the patient’s home and remotely to provide optimal support at all times—just like in a hospital. Patients connect with their health care team with just the touch of a button. Carol Bieber, whose 98-year-old father, Bill, has been a hospital care at home patient, sees the difference it makes for him to wake up in his own bed, sit in his own living room and still get the care he needs to get better. "The whole hospital care at home experience is really calm and easy and familiar to him," said Bieber, who lives in Newark. “My dad is a people person, so to be able to connect with everybody who comes in to see him or talk to him on the screen is just amazing.” Innovative solutions for in-home care ChristianaCare’s Hospital Care at Home program was developed in 2021 after the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) began the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program to allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive acute-level health care services in their home. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, who represents Delaware, worked to pass the bipartisan Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act in 2023 that extended this program. Last month. Sen. Carper introduced the bipartisan At Home Observation and Medical Evaluation (HOME) Services Act that would expand this lifesaving and cost-saving program. “Hospital at Home – which grew out of the COVID pandemic – was an opportunity for us to meet seniors where they are,” Sen. Carper said. “It has delivered positive outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and saves money. That is why when this program was about to go away with the end of the COVID public health emergency, I joined my colleagues across the aisle to extend the program for two more years. Today, especially as we celebrate the success of the program in Delaware with ChristianaCare, I’m encouraged that we can further extend that program!” Sarah E. Schenck, M.D., FACP, executive director of the ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health, said the hospital care at home program has yielded lower readmission rates than brick-and-mortar hospitals. In addition, patient experience scores are about three times higher than the national average for a traditional hospital experience. Options like Hospital Care at Home give patients the care they need in the space they want, said Dr. Sarah Schenck, executive director of ChristianaCare's Center for Virtual Health. “We’ve been conditioned to believe that care only happens within the four walls of a hospital. For our patients who have loved ones at home or their pets, a favorite chair or favorite food, they’re now able to have all of that as they heal,” Schenck said. “Once our patients have experienced this, what we hear from them is that they are truly grateful.” Promoting healing – at home Helping patients recover in their homes also has been transformational for caregivers who get to see a different side of their patients and better understand what they need to successfully recover. “I can’t express how much I enjoy the patients and their families,” said Heather Orkis, a paramedic with the hospital care at home program. Patients aren't the only ones who enjoy the experience of Hospital Care at Home - so do the health care professionals who care for them. “To be able to enjoy the family and see these people get better in their own homes, with their families, their grandkids, their dogs, their cats – it’s just a completely different kind of medicine.” For Bill Bieber’s family, hospital care at home is more than health care. “It’s just the best thing ever,” Carol Bieber said. Families appreciate the frequent interactions with members of the Hospital Care at Home team.
#Expert Podcasts: How CARF Accreditation supports development and adds value
Thinking about accreditation for your rehabilitation facility? The newest Be Advised podcast is for you. Mary Free Bed’s Advisory Group podcast, Be Advised, is diving into the benefits of CARF Accreditation for health and human service organizations. The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) has been accrediting organizations since 1966. The guest for this episode is Terrence Carolan, managing director of the Medical Rehabilitation and Aging Services for CARF International. Carolan has more than 20 years of experience in the field of medical rehabilitation as an administrator, provider, and educator. He holds two master’s degrees, one in physical therapy and one in business administration. Before joining CARF as the managing director, Terrence was a CARF surveyor for more than 10 years. In his managing director role, Terrence oversees CARF’s medical rehabilitation area which includes standards for: Comprehensive Integrated Inpatient Rehabilitation Program Outpatient Medical Rehabilitation Program Residential Rehabilitation Program Home and Community Services Concussion Rehabilitation Program Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Program Occupational Rehabilitation Program Occupational Rehabilitation Program–Comprehensive Services Vocational Services Independent Evaluation Services Case Management CARF also accredits specialty programs in the areas of: Pediatrics Amputation Brain injury Cancer Spinal Cord Injury Stroke Be Advised is hosted by Joyal Pavey, vice president of the Mary Free Bed Advisory Group. On this episode of Be Advised, Joyal and Terrence discuss: What makes CARF unique? The national and international span of CARF Common questions about the accreditation process Advice for first time accreditation What’s next for CARF in the coming five years You can check out the podcast here: Looking to know more about accreditation or connect with Terrence? View his profile below to arrange an interview today.
Acute Care Nursing Goes Virtual
At ChristianaCare, our patients are our number one priority. That perspective keeps us thinking about new ways to deliver care, including those that allow our caregivers to put their knowledge, skills and focus to the best use. Video: ChristianaCare Virtual Acute Care Nursing Virtual acute care nursing is one way we are making sure our caregivers are working at the highest levels to care for our patients in our hospitals. What is virtual nursing? This program allows experienced nurses to practice virtually in another location. Nurses working virtually help nurses at the bedside by documenting health information, such as medication histories; providing patient education; monitoring patient lab work; completing patient admission documentation; and helping with discharge planning and care coordination. Podcast: Virtual Nursing in the Hospital with Michelle Collins and Melanie Ries By working virtually, these nurses help remove some of the documentation burden for our clinical staff while also improving our patient outcomes. For example, a virtual acute care nurse can take the time to explain to a patient what their at-home care plan will look like, when to take their medications or even understand more about their condition. That allows our bedside nurses to keep their focus on the immediate needs of their patients. How does virtual nursing work? If a patient has a question about their medicine or wants to know more about their impending discharge, they can use a computer tablet that’s placed next to their bed to contact their virtual nurse, who will answer the call. Patients want to feel that someone is available to talk with them, and that’s exactly what our virtual nurse program provides. While our bedside nurses work on a unit caring for multiple patients, our virtual nurses care for one patient at a time without distraction. How is ChristianaCare using virtual nursing? We are currently using a virtual nursing care delivery model in more than 500 of our acute care beds – that’s about 41% of all the beds we have in Wilmington and Christiana hospitals. Nearly 19,000 patients have received this kind of innovative care at ChristianaCare. Our patients and nurses have been involved in over 53,000 calls, spending between seven and nine minutes each time they talk. Why does this matter? It’s no secret that nurses have been overburdened with high patient volumes and labor shortages that have affected the entire health care industry. Given this, it’s imperative to think of new models to support our caregivers, ease their workload and make sure we are providing expert care. Improvements in patient care – along with our patient experience scores – show us the value of the program. Virtual nursing allows us to do that. There also are other advantages to virtual nursing. It can be an option for skilled nurses who aren’t able to handle the physical demands of the job since the interaction with patients is through a tablet. Virtual nursing also offers an opportunity to help early-career nurses learn from experienced caregivers. A virtual nurse can provide mentoring to the bedside nurse by acting as an extra set of eyes and ears to help assess a patient or talk through a challenge. This approach can also help retain more of our early-career nurses, which is good news for all of us. We see virtual nursing as another tool to help our caregivers serve with love and excellence. And let’s be honest — we all want good care to be as easy as pushing a button. Thanks to virtual nursing, it is.
ChristianaCare’s Center for Rehabilitation at Wilmington Hospital has been named to Newsweek’s 2023 list of America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers. The award is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., the world’s leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The award recognized 280 leading inpatient rehabilitation facilities in 25 states and four regions. The Center for Rehabilitation at Wilmington Hospital ranked in the top 5 for the South region. Patient care at the Center for Rehabilitation at Wilmington Hospital. “We are incredibly honored to receive this recognition for the state-of-the-art and patient-centered care our inpatient rehabilitation team provides to our patients,” said Jennifer Thomas, vice president of Rehabilitation Services at ChristianaCare. “We work together with our patients to reach outstanding outcomes and meet their goals for recovery from conditions such as brain injury, spinal cord injury, strokes, trauma and joint replacement. We are so proud of the incredible work of our team and our patients as we face those challenges together and get them back to living their fullest lives.” To determine the best rehab centers, Newsweek examined three data sources: National online survey of experts with knowledge of physical rehabilitation centers (physicians, physiotherapists, doctors, clinic managers and other health care professionals). Quality metrics data published by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Accreditation data on physical rehabilitation centers provided by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). For over 30 years, ChristianaCare’s 40-bed rehabilitation facility has provided the highest quality rehabilitation services in the state and among the best in the region. This innovative facility includes state-of-the-art equipment, the latest therapeutic technology and techniques and real-life skill simulation environments. The Center for Rehabilitation has received CARF accreditation since 1993, ensuring it meets rigorous service, safety and quality standards. CARF-accredited specialty program area designations were first achieved and are ongoing for stroke (2007), limb loss (2010) and brain injury (2011).
American College of Surgeons Recognizes ChristianaCare for ‘Meritorious’ Surgical Outcomes
ChristianaCare has been honored as one of only 78 institutions out of 615 by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress for achieving “meritorious” outcomes in surgical patient care. This is the 10th time that ChristianaCare has been recognized through the organization’s National Surgical Quality Improvement Program – also known as ACS NSQIP – which is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. “Patients can be confident that when they come to ChristianaCare for surgery, they are receiving care from a team that has a long track record of national recognition for outstanding quality and safety. Receiving this recognition for the 10th time is a direct result of our commitment to excellence and providing world-class surgical care to our community,” said Matthew Rubino, MD, MBA, FACS, interim chair of ChristianaCare’s Department of Surgery. “These awards reflect the commitment to excellence by all our surgeons and caregivers within Perioperative Services. We look forward to progressing on our journey of continuous improvement, anchored by our values of love and excellence.” The award recognizes ChristianaCare’s coordinated delivery of perioperative care within the general, colorectal, neurologic, orthopaedic and oral and maxillofacial and otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) surgery specialties. It includes Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital, as well as the Christiana Surgicenter in Newark, Delaware, representing a combined total of nearly 38,000 surgical procedures a year. That volume represents the 46th highest volume of surgeries among health systems nationwide. The ACS NSQIP measures actual surgical results 30 days after the operation and makes risk adjustments to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels. Participating hospitals are required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and then analyze their results, which direct patient safety initiatives within the hospital and impact the quality of surgical care. ChristianaCare was honored with ACS NSQIP recognition for its performance in eight clinical areas: Mortality. Cardiac arrest and heart attack. Pneumonia. Unplanned intubation. Ventilator use for longer than 48 hours. Renal failure. Surgical site infections. Urinary tract infection.
ChristianaCare Earns National Recognition for Support of Life-Saving Organ and Tissue Donation
ChristianaCare has earned the highest level of national recognition from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for its outstanding support of organ and tissue donation. HRSA grants the Platinum Award, its top honor, to health systems that promote donation in their workplace and community through a national campaign known as DoNation. This campaign focuses on raising awareness of the critical need for organ and tissue donors. “This recognition belongs to all the ChristianaCare caregivers, especially the critical care nurses and physicians who help with compassion and generosity in supporting the gift of life to those in need of a transplant,” said Jason Rolls, M.D., FACS, chief and surgical director of the Kidney Transplant Program at ChristianaCare. “This recognition also is a testament to the generosity of our communities, who have said ‘yes’ to organ donation.” Delaware’s Only Kidney Transplant Program Based at Christiana Hospital, ChristianaCare’s Kidney Transplant Program is the only adult transplant center in Delaware and the only one between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Since opening in 2006, the program has performed more than 400 transplants. The program also helps more than 1,000 patients each year by providing services for kidney transplant, living donation evaluation and waitlist management, as well as post-donation and post-transplant care. The program is approved by Medicare and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. “The sooner we can provide kidney transplants to patients on dialysis, the better the chances to improve both the extent and the quality of their lives,” Rolls said. “Along with our clinical teams at ChristianaCare, we also are grateful to HRSA and the Gift of Life Donor Program in Philadelphia for their commitment to healing lives through the support of organ transplantation.” ChristianaCare works closely with Gift of Life Donor Program, the region’s nonprofit organ procurement organization, to support donation. ChristianaCare’s engagement and advocacy includes monthly donation council meetings, tabling events and educational sessions for its health care team. In addition, ChristianaCare holds an annual flag-raising ceremony each April as part of National Donate Life Month. “ChristianaCare and our hospital partners are vital to our life-saving mission,” said Rick Hasz, president and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program. “In fact, ChristianaCare is one of the leading hospitals for donation in our region; its Newark and Wilmington campuses have combined to provide compassionate care and support for 50 donor heroes and their families, resulting in 120 life-saving organs for transplant for waiting patients during the first eleven months of 2023. We thank the ChristianaCare team for its outstanding commitment to saving lives through donation and caring for the health of our community.” In the United States, more than 90% of adults support organ donation, but only 60% have signed up to become donors. With a new person added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes, more organ and tissue donors are needed to help save lives. Visit www.organdonor.gov to learn more about organ and tissue donation, and sign up as a donor at www.donors1.org/register.
Below is a statement from Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., founder and executive director, ChristinaCare Gene Editing Institute, regarding the expected approval by the Food and Drug Administration of exa-cel (Casgevy), the CRISPR-driven treatment for sickle cell disease and betta thalassemia. If you wish to interview Dr. Kmiec, please contact Mak Sisson, Makenzie.sisson@christinacare.org,302-623-5306 or Anna Chen, achen@burness.com, 215-262-7670. “As scientists, the fact that we have arrived at a potential curative treatment for sickle cell disease in a relatively brief period is a testament to the power of resolute researchers in this field who have never stopped. And the FDA’s expected approval comes with many firsts. For the first time we have what appears to be a safe and curative treatment for one of the most painful diseases that cuts life short. And it is remarkable that finally we are focusing on the Black population first, who are most affected by this disease. This priority is long, long overdue. The challenge, however, is the very people we want to help may not be able to get access to or afford the million-dollar treatment and the length of time it will take to be treated — weeks and weeks in the hospital. The numbers of people who can be treated are limited. We must work with the health care industry and pharmaceutical companies who will market produce and deliver the treatments to make sure that all people can get access. What can they do to make treatments more affordable and more available? What can they do to support continued research to assess the long-term effects this treatment may have? And how can we make this easier to deliver? As important as it is to have developed this new treatment, right now we must do our best to communicate well to the public what new findings like this mean. Take the time to explain it all. It cannot be oversold. We must make the communication about this first CRISPR-driven treatment as important as the science itself.” Eric B. Kmiec, Ph.D., is the founder and executive director of the Gene Editing Institute at ChristianaCare. He is also co-founder and chief scientific officer of CorriXR Therapeutics. Widely recognized for his pioneering work in the fields of molecular medicine and gene editing, Dr. Kmiec has developed CRISPR based genetic therapies for Sickle Cell Disease and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Gene and Genome Editing.
(WILMINGTON, Del. – December 1, 2023) ChristianaCare is investing $1 million in local nonprofit organizations to improve health for communities in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Announced during a special event Thursday at Ezion Fair Baptist Church in Wilmington’s Southbridge neighborhood, the funding was given to 19 nonprofits through ChristianaCare’s Community Investment Fund. The fund supports partnerships to build the collective capacity of communities to address social, behavioral and environmental factors that impact health. “In order to improve health equity and accelerate progress in addressing the social drivers of health, we need partners,” said Bettina Tweardy Riveros, chief public affairs officer and chief health equity officer at ChristianaCare. “While ChristianaCare provides excellent health care, we also understand that we are not the experts on every social driver of health. And that’s why we are committed to strengthening these organizations and enhancing their ability to make a positive impact. Together, we are creating health in the neighborhoods and communities we serve.” As an anchor institution in the community, ChristianaCare invests in community health improvement programs as a core component of its community benefit activities. To date, ChristianaCare has provided more than $4 million to 52 community organizations through its Community Investment Fund, which was established in 2019. This year’s awardees received funding to support community health improvement initiatives in high-need communities to address a diverse array of health-related needs, including safe housing, access to nutritious food – and even climate change, which the White House recently highlighted as a social driver of health. One of the organizations that received a grant is Delaware Humanities, which provides educational and cultural opportunities to help Delawareans gain a deeper understanding of human identity. The Wilmington, Del.-headquartered nonprofit will use its grant to develop environmental justice toolkits designed to inspire, facilitate and guide conversations about the importance of environmental issues in Delaware. “Major focus areas at our organization include health and environment, which impact human behavior and our collective sense of well-being,” said Michele Anstine, executive director of Delaware Humanities. “ChristianaCare’s grant will help us empower our communities so they can more truly understand the deep connection between health and their environment and its profound impact on the human experience.” Good Neighbors Home Repair, headquartered in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, received a grant to expand its free home repair services to houses for low-income households, making their homes safer, healthier and more livable. “Many of the houses that we repair belong to people who are coming home after a hospital discharge,” said Brad Dunn, advancement director for Good Neighbors Home Repair. “They often are returning to homes with broken handrails and misshapen steps but are unable to pay for repairs because they live on fixed incomes. We are deeply appreciative that ChristianaCare is supporting our efforts to provide services that keep our clients safe, healthy and at home.” Recipients were selected based on the quality of their proposals and implementation plans, and on the alignment of their proposals with the key priorities of ChristianaCare’s Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Health Implementation Plan. The funded initiatives will be implemented throughout the upcoming year. The 19 latest Community Investment Fund recipients are: AIDS Delaware. Bayside Community Network, Inc. Children & Families First. Cornerstone West CDC. Deep Roots, Inc. Delaware 211. Delaware Center for Justice. Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Delaware Humanities. Delaware Interfaith Power & Light. Good Neighbors Home Repair. Green Beret Project. Healthy Food for Healthy Kids. Project New Start. Saint Patrick'’s Center. Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. The Resurrection Center. YMCA of Delaware. YWCA Delaware.
