Jonas Philanthropies

Jonas Philanthropies invested in and supported solutions, projects and scholarships to provide quality healthcare to vulnerable citizens. In 2023, the investments and support were as follows:1) the Jonas nursing and veterans healthcare program:the Jonas nursing and veterans healthcare program of Jonas Philanthropies invests in high-potential doctoral nursing scholars (i.e. Phd, dnp, phd-dnp, edd, dns) by providing scholarships, leadership development, networking, and learning opportunities. Based on research, each doctorate of nurse practitioner (dnp) scholar is estimated to conduct an average of 100,000 patient visits over the course of a 20-year career, while each phd nurse scholar is expected to teach 5,000 students and produce research ultimately impacting thousands of patients. Many of these nurses fulfill leadership roles as faculty, clinical leaders, researchers, organizational leaders and public servants. Our nursing scholarship program has the following main objectives: 1) increase the number of advanced practice nurses trained to serve across a variety of healthcare settings (i.e., primary care, veterans administration, pediatrics, women's health, palliative care, and geriatrics); 2) prepare academic faculty to educate future generations of nurses; 3) prepare researchers to advance nurse-led research to address knowledge gaps that will address pressing healthcare needs. In 2023 we sponsored 53 phd and 33 dnp scholars, representing 55 schools of nursing that are geographically dispersed across the country. Examples of areas of clinical care or research include palliative care, oncology, mental health, quality of life, and women's health. We also supplement the scholar's formal classes with additional educational programs. Some of these presentations include virtual panel discussions and webinars on environmental health and climate change, vision health, and children's mental health. These events included presentations and pertinent information shared by the country's leading nursing experts in the various fields. Another educational component that is included in our program is the mentorship of our subject matter experts (sme). We've provided highly esteemed nursing experts as a resource to our scholars to assist in their success during their program. The sme offers content and resources in our priority focus areas of veterans health, mental health, vision health, and environmental health. Given the increased attention to racial disparities in healthcare and throughout the country, we've also provided a sme in the area of minority health for some of our scholars focusing their work in specific populations. Another aspect of our program was the need to promote the work of many of our alumni scholars who hold prominent leadership positions in the nursing profession. These scholars have become leading nursing faculty, research scientists, clinicians, and administrators in academic, clinical, and community health settings. 2) vision to learn project:in 2022 Jonas Philanthropies agreed to partner with the vision to learn organization to provide vision screenings, eye exams, and glasses to underprivileged children who would not be able to afford these services. Vision to learn has mobile vision facilities which conducts the examinations. Due to covid pandemic, studies have shown that there is a higher level of myopia progression due to distance learning and increased screen time. Other benefits from providing glasses to children relates to the reduction of chronic absenteeism which has shown to lead to increased standardized test scores in english language and math. Jonas Philanthropies supported the new jersey program. During 2023 vision screenings were performed on 1,300 children. Among them, 531 underwent optometric exams, and 458 children received prescription glasses. 3) terra firma:in 2019, Jonas Philanthropies agreed to contribute to the support of terra firma pursuant to a 5-year grant. This organization is working with the children's health fund in sponsoring a clinic located in the south bronx recently which was renamed in 2021 as the bronx health collective (bhc). Terra firma is a collaboration between bhc, montefiore medical center and catholic charities new york in which the purpose of the program is to help unaccompanied immigrant children from a medical, social, mental health, youth enrichment and legal perspective. The medical and mental help is provided by the doctors located at the clinic and the legal assistance toward becoming us citizens is provided through a close relationship with catholic charities' legal partners. Jp's grant has allowed terra firma to hire a full-time administrator which oversees the programmatic activities to ensure effective delivery of the components of the program. In addition, the goal of the program is to develop a model that can be implemented beyond the south bronx.during 2023, terra firma provided care for 495 patients in more than 2,812 medical and or mental health visits. During 2023, terra firma's numbers of unaccompanied minors, asylum seeking families- children and asylum-seeking families - adults increased due to the migration crisis at the us border; many of which were transported to nyc. The terra firma team members continue to receive awards and media recognition, authored articles, speak at conferences and appeared in major news outlets. Terra firma also has conducted a webinar for our nursing scholars titled," working with unaccompanied immigrant youth and asylum-seeking families: a trauma informed perspective".

Trees for climate healthas an urgent response to the global climate emergency, Jonas Philanthropies expanded its commitment to healthcare to include tree growing. The tree planting program is directly related to the organization's mission to improve healthcare and protect children's environmental health in that healthy trees mean healthy people around the world. Growing and protecting trees improves air & water quality, shade cover, economic security, human mental and physical health, and overall quality of life.