Eskenazi Health Foundation has received a grant of $500,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support efforts to reduce gun violence as part of a comprehensive injury prevention initiative.
The grant is one of 13 that Lilly Endowment is making to help community centers, workforce development organizations, health care organizations and congregations and other faith-based groups work to curb gun violence in Indianapolis during the next two years.
“Eskenazi Health Foundation is grateful for this generous grant from our friends with Lilly Endowment,” said Ernest Vargo II, CFRE, president and chief executive officer of Eskenazi Health Foundation. “Our Prescription for Hope program provides a wide variety of invaluable assistance to individuals facing difficult circumstances. These financial resources will provide the means to help many of our trauma patients recover and lead a better, safer and more rewarding life.”
Eskenazi Health Foundation will use this grant to support Eskenazi Health Prescription for Hope, the cornerstone injury prevention program of the Smith Level I Shock Trauma Center at Eskenazi Health. The program assists individuals who have been shot, stabbed, or assaulted and have come to the emergency department. Since its inception in 2009, Prescription for Hope has helped more than 1,000 people.
Prescription for Hope assists patients and their families in making life changes that allow them to live safer, more successful, healthy lives. Program goals to prevent medical and violence recidivism include four specific objectives:
Prescription for Hope meets people on their worst day, and the comprehensive violence prevention and intervention strategy of this trauma education program features primary components that enable at-risk individuals in Indianapolis to achieve self-sufficiency and increase their opportunity to lead healthy, safe and successful lives.
