Join Us to Discover Grace

Thank you for your dedicated support of Let’s Say Grace throughout the years. With your help, the events raised more than $3,000,000 enabling Grace Medical Home to serve thousands of uninsured patients annually.

 While the event has been successful, Let’s Say Grace will not be returning in 2021. Instead, we are hosting Discover Grace - quarterly, intimate receptions and facility tours for community members. This will allow us to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with potential donors and partners.  Read more to learn about Discover Grace.

Discover Grace!

Led by our board of directors, this quarterly reception and facility tour provides a personal, up-close view of Grace’s mission in action. While touring the facility, you will meet team members, volunteers and patients and hear firsthand how we see to it no one misses the grace of God. You will also hear about ways to get involved and support the mission. Light refreshments will be available.

 Late afternoon receptions will be held in June, August, October and December.

 We hope you will continue to support Discover Grace. If you are interested in hosting or attending a reception, please contact Lynn Ivanek at lynn@gracemedicalhome.org.

Reading is Fundamental

When Michelle Cash, Grace’s Pediatric APRN, learned one of her pediatric patients, Melani, needed help with her reading, she knew just who to call. As a retired educator with more than 29 years of experience and a love for early education, Gayle Bosscher was the perfect person.  Michelle approached Gayle to see if she would be willing to help. Gayle has been tutoring Melani in reading ever since.

Melani’s family moved to Orange County from Guatemala. “It is really a ‘language thing’ not a ‘reading thing,’ explained Gayle. “Melani is an excellent Spanish reader, but she struggles to read in English. A dual language class is great for some children, but not for someone who needs in-depth English.” 

Gayle continued, “Experiential English isn’t something you can teach. Reading isn’t just the sounds, but also understanding the meaning of the words. Melani is not a little girl who needs to fail; she is just a little girl who hasn’t been taught the basics. She is a bright, happy little girl. I enjoy being with her. She is so sweet to work with.” 

Gayle even rearranged her schedule to stay after her scheduled volunteer shift to tutor Melani weekly. “This is an easy need to fulfill, said Gayle. “I can’t pay their utility bills, but I can speak and read English with a heart and willingness to do it!”

Melani’s mother, Mayli, is committed to providing a solid education for her daughter. She is willing to do what she can to help her succeed including making the weekly drive to Grace from Apopka for the hour-long tutoring session. Mayli shared that Melani gets really happy knowing she is going to Grace to see Ms. Gayle. Emphatically announcing weekly, “Today I have my tutoring. Yes!”

When asked if she likes the time spent with Ms. Gayle, Melani shyly replied, “It’s fun. I like learning.”

“We have seen a big, big improvement (in Melani’s reading skills,)” said Mayli. “She is happier and it gives her confidence to speak the language.”

Her mother encourages her to be brave, to be proud of being in this country and of speaking two languages. “There are so many opportunities,” Mayli shared. “We are blessed to have Grace.”

Grace Recognized with Innovation Award in Community Health from Direct Relief and The Pfizer Foundation

Grace Medical Home recently received a $150,000 grant as part of Direct Relief’s Innovation Awards in Community Health: Addressing Infectious Disease in Underserved Communities, generously funded by The Pfizer Foundation.

This support will enable Grace to increase vaccination initiatives for our adult patients against common inflections like seasonal flu. Additionally, it will help strengthen future vaccine delivery, including the COVID-19 vaccination, to reach our marginalized and vulnerable patient population.

Grace was the only clinic in Florida and one of only 11 clinics recognized nationally to receive this prestigious grant. Grants totaling $2.5 million went to safety-net community healthcare providers to support innovative approaches to infectious disease education, screening, testing, treatment, and care and to provide greater health equity among the country’s most vulnerable communities. Direct Relief managed the application and selection process in consultation with a panel of infectious disease physicians who provided a clinical review. 

 “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing systemic health inequities, resulting in vulnerable patients and their loved ones experiencing even greater hardship,” said Caroline Roan, President, The Pfizer Foundation and Chief Sustainability Officer, Pfizer Inc. “We are proud to support Direct Relief and its network of frontline safety-net clinics across the U.S. to break down barriers to good health in underserved communities and increase access to life-saving infectious disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.”

“These awards are intended in part to allow providers to test and improve new care models and solutions, which is of utmost importance as healthcare is drastically changing due to COVID-19,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “We are humbled by the dedication of these largely unheralded safety-net health providers to improve the lives and health of the people they care for.”