News and Events – October 2023
Updates to Social Determinants of Health materials are patient-informed
The Floating Hospital is constantly improving our abilities to support families living in homeless shelters, domestic violence safe houses, hotels and those “doubled up” with friends and family. In 2021, The Floating Hospital create a roadmap to collect insights into the lives of our patients and better prepare our medical and education teams to meet their acute needs.
Dr. Sarajane Brittis, Ph.D. and project lead for the study, continues her work to use the study to inform The Floating Hospital’s initiatives while preparing for a future iteration.
“Currently, we are working on collecting feedback from one of our patients regarding the materials that we provide in our Life Skills department. We want to ensure they are user-friendly and helpful guides for our patients,” said Dr. Brittis.
The patient guide, a survivor of domestic violence and successfully pulled herself out of the NYC homeless shelter system, generously provides insights from her own experiences to edit The Floating Hospital’s materials. Brittis noted that additionally, the original Social Determinants of Health questionnaire is being reviewed and updated to reflect patients’ post-Covid experiences.
1st Annual Legislative Briefing forms foundations for partnerships
On Tuesday, October 10th, The Floating Hospital hosted a Legislative Briefing & Breakfast to great success. Representatives from city and state government representing twelve offices and elected officials attended, including representatives from Governor Kathy Hochul’s office, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
Dr. Shani Andre, Chief Medical Officer of The Floating Hospital, updated the elected officials on the work The Floating Hospital has done to provide newly arrived migrant families with preventative and family medical care.
Sean Granahan, Esq., President and General Counsel of The Floating Hospital, spoke with elected officials about possible new initiatives where city and state leaders can collaborate and assist The Floating Hospital in reaching even more patients and families.
The event concluded with a tour of The Floating Hospital’s flagship clinic in Long Island City, which allowed staffers and elected officials to see our work in action. In a post-event social media post, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards shared, “In a time when quality healthcare can be hard to come by, especially for people of color, The Floating Hospital has always been there to care for our families, regardless of their ability to pay.”
With members of the media in attendance and attendees excitedly imagining opportunities for future partnerships even as they left the event – we look forward to future collaborations after laying this important groundwork!
Annual appeal season quickly draws near
The Floating Hospital Foundation’s annual appeal is our year-end campaign to garner additional support to reach our annual fundraising goal. The annual appeal supports The Floating Hospital in achieving operational goals and sustains the wide variety of programming vital to meeting our vision for thriving families.
From Camp Rise Up to our Good Health Shuttle fleet to our health education classes and Community Outreach initiatives, our annual appeal makes it possible for The Floating Hospital to provide families living in homeless shelters with the assistance they need.
This year’s printed and electronic effort will spread awareness about our work to support domestic violence survivors and the unique challenges these women and children endure. Longtime supporters know that The Floating Hospital’s shuttle services all the domestic violence shelters in New York City, helping mothers and families to receive medical care despite excruciatingly painful circumstances.
This year’s appeal offers some new characteristics as well. The Floating Hospital Foundation’s fundraising department is excited to share that a matching fund has been secured to double our donors’ impact, $1 for $1.
Additionally, The Floating Hospital staff will fundraise to establish the first-ever optometry service at our flagship clinic! Our staff will spearhead this unique fundraising campaign to support vision health, a long-wished-for service for our families.
Keep an eye on your inboxes in November as we kick off our annual appeal email and social media campaigns. Thank you for donating!
This post is featured in our monthly newsletter from October 2023.
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The Floating Hospital provides high-quality healthcare to anyone who needs it regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, immigration or insurance status, or the ability to pay. By providing unrestricted medical care in tandem with health education and social support to vulnerable New York City families, The Floating Hospital aims to ensure those most in need have the ability to thrive, not just survive.
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