A gift of $1.45 million from the Sealy & Smith Foundation to the University of Texas Medical Branch will improve quality of medical care for patients at St. Vincent’s House clinics run by students and staff of the medical branch, officials said.
The grant makes it possible for St. Vincent’s student clinics, as well as five Teen Health Clinics in Galveston public schools, to become part of the medical branch’s Epic electronic records system and will provide much-needed equipment and supplies to St. Vincent’s, representatives of Sealy & Smith, St. Vincent’s House and the medical branch said at Wednesday’s announcement.
“This is such a gift for the people of Galveston,” said Bonnie Farmer, president of the St. Vincent’s House board of trustees.
St. Vincent’s House, 2817 Alfreda Houston Place in Galveston, is a nonprofit social service mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.
Medical branch students, nurses, nurse practitioners, physical therapists and other health care professionals have long served the clinic at St. Vincent’s House, providing low- or no-cost medical care to uninsured patients with minimal resources.
The Sealy & Smith grant will make it possible for those medical personnel, the bulk of them volunteers, to offer more efficient and effective care to clinic patients, said Dr. Ben Raimer, interim president of the medical branch.
“We know that patients go to multiple places for care — the emergency room at UTMB, to the county’s health clinics and here or to other hospitals for specialty care — and their medical records are everywhere,” Raimer said. “That creates chaos.”
