Montefiore's "Family Resiliency Program" Eases Financial Stress for Families Who Lost Loved Ones to COVID-19

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Funding from Robin Hood and the Coach Foundation will support the program

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Oct 20, 2020, 10:38 ET

BRONX, N.Y., Oct. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have created the Family Resiliency Program to provide counseling and, in some cases, financial support to New York City and lower Hudson Valley families who have lost a loved one to COVID-19.

With funding from Robin Hood and Tapestry Inc.'s Coach Foundation, eligible families must be referred to the program by a doctor, nurse, social worker, or other clinician and then screened by Montefiore staff to receive $2,000 of financial support for food, shelter, utilities or child care.

Families eligible for a referral must meet the following criteria:

Have lost a loved one to COVID-19 who was an income earner or caregiver in a household. This includes the death of a household member who provided childcare or an adult whose paycheck covered family bills.
Have a child or young adult under age 26 in the household.
Live in New York City or lower Hudson Valley.
Are struggling to pay basic expenses such as housing, food, utilities or child care.

Hundreds of families in New York City and the lower Hudson Valley will benefit from the $700,000 fund.

All families referred to the program, including those that do not meet the criteria to qualify for cash assistance, will be given the opportunity to work with a social worker to identify additional appropriate benefits through other federal and state programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

"Montefiore's work does not just take place in doctors' offices and hospitals; our mission is to help our communities, like the Bronx, that experienced the wrath of COVID-19, which exacerbated decades of health inequities and economic challenges," said Anna Flattau, M.D., associate professor and vice chair for Clinical Services, Department of Family and Social Medicine, at Montefiore and Einstein. "This program will provide temporary assistance to alleviate the immediate financial concerns that families coping with tremendous trauma and grief are facing, while they apply for other benefits and programs."

"The doctors and social workers at Montefiore are committed to finding innovative ways to help patients and their families who face extreme challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Adam Sirois, director of Institutional Giving, at Montefiore. "We're grateful to have partners like Robin Hood and the Coach Foundation who helped us move swiftly to support families at a time of personal loss and financial anxiety."

If you're a medical professional looking to refer a family to the program, please email [email protected]. To donate or become a partner, please visit https://www.montefiore.org/family-social-medicine.

About Montefiore Health System

Montefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley. It is comprised of 10 hospitals, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and more than 200 outpatient ambulatory care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, directly informs patient care and improves outcomes. From the Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in cancer, cardiology and vascular care, pediatrics, and transplantation, to its preeminent school-based health program, Montefiore is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system providing coordinated, comprehensive care to patients and their families. For more information please visit www.montefiore.org. Follow us on Twitter and view us on Facebook and YouTube.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2019-20 academic year, Einstein is home to 724 M.D. students, 158 Ph.D. students, 106 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 265 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 1,800 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2019, Einstein received more than $178 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, cancer, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Einstein runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States through Montefiore and an affiliation network involving hospitals and medical centers in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Long Island. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu, read our blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and view us on YouTube.

About Robin Hood

Founded in 1988, Robin Hood finds, fuels, and creates the most impactful and scalable solutions lifting families out of poverty in New York City, with models that can work across the country. Robin Hood invests nearly $120 million annually to provide legal services, housing, meals, workforce development training, education programs, and more to families in poverty in New York City. Robin Hood tracks every program with rigorous metrics, and since Robin Hood's Board of Directors covers all overhead, 100 percent of every donation goes directly to the poverty fight. Learn more at www.robinhood.org and follow Robin Hood on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Tapestry Inc. and the Coach Foundation

Tapestry, Inc. is a New York-based house of modern luxury lifestyle brands. The Company's portfolio includes Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman. Founded in 2008, the Coach Foundation brings Coach's philanthropic initiatives to life. To date it has granted more than $50 million to nonprofit partners all over the world. For more information on Coach's philanthropic initiatives, please visit https://www.coach.com/dreamitreal.

SOURCE Montefiore Health System