Jan. 4, 2017
Children and
adults in two Texas communities, Houston and El Paso, will receive
disease-preventing and potentially life-saving vaccinations, thanks to special
grants from the Texas Medical Association’s (TMA’s)
Be Wise —ImmunizeSM program.
TMA recently awarded $3,300 in grants to TMA chapters at two of the state’s
medical schools to provide free vaccinations to uninsured and underinsured
Texans in their hometowns.
TMA created the
Be Wise — Immunize Local Impact Grants program in 2012 to assist TMA, Texas Medical
Association Alliance (TMAA) members, and medical students in helping protect
community health by offering childhood, adolescent, and adult vaccinations at
special events and clinics. (TMAA is a group of TMA-member physicians and
spouses who host community initiatives.) These members of the TMA Family often
partner with other local organizations on the projects.
In five years,
TMA has awarded 66 grants totaling $120,000 to provide more than 9,000
vaccinations across the state through the Local Impact Grants program. Be Wise
— Immunize and the Local Impact Grants are funded by the Texas Medical Association
Foundation (TMAF), TMA’s philanthropic arm. TMA awarded two medical student
chapters the most recent grants.
“Medical
students are medicine’s future, so TMA Foundation and its donors are proud to
support their efforts to help more Texans lead healthier lives,” said TMAF
President Deborah A. Fuller, MD, of Dallas.
In December, TMA
awarded these grants, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500:
McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston TMA Chapterwill provide free flu vaccinations for
underserved minority adults and children at a Jan. 14 health fair at CT Church
in Pasadena.
Texas
Tech University Health Sciences Center-El Paso Paul L. Foster
School of Medicine TMA chapter
will offer free childhood and adult vaccinations to uninsured El Paso residents at a SUNS (Students United
para Nuestra Salud) health fair at the
RotaCare Clinic later this year.
TMA actively works to improve
vaccination rates in Texas through its Be Wise — Immunize program. Physicians,
alliance members, medical students and other volunteers have given more than 315,000
shots to Texas children, adolescents, and adults since the program began in
2004. TMAF funds the Be Wise program in 2017 through generous support from H-E-B and TMF Health Quality Institute, along with contributions from
physicians and their families.
TMA is the largest state
medical society in the nation, representing more than 49,000 physician and
medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component county
medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to
improve the health of all Texans. The TMA Foundation raises
funds to support the public health, quality of care, and science priority
initiatives of TMA and the family of medicine.
Be
Wise — Immunize is a service mark of the Texas Medical Association.
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Contact: Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512) 656-7320; email: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
Marcus Cooper (512)
370-1382; cell: (512) 650-5336; email: marcus.cooper[at]texmed[dot]org
Enter your work in TMA’s Anson Jones, MD, Awards, by
Jan. 10, 2017.
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