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A New Vision for America's Healthcare

For low-income youth and families, traditional medical care is not sufficient to improve health outcomes. A prescription for antibiotics is not enough when there is no food at home. Poor health further entrenches families in poverty by jeopardizing educational attainment, economic stability, and life opportunities.

Founded in the Boston Medical Center Pediatrics Department in 1996, Project HEALTH's approach is simple but effective: We enable doctors to "prescribe" food, fuel assistance, housing, or other resources for their patients, just as they do medication. Patients take these prescriptions to our Family Help Desks in clinic waiting rooms, where our college volunteers "fill" them by connecting patients with these critical resources. Last year, Project HEALTH trained and mobilized nearly 600 college volunteers serving over 4,000 low-income patients and their families in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New York, Providence, and Washington, D.C.

Our impact is two-fold: Our Family Help Desks expand the capacity of clinics to connect their patients with the resources they need to be healthy. At the same time, by providing a transformative experience for our volunteer corps, we are producing a pipeline of new leaders with the skills, knowledge, and experience to bring about change in the health care system.

We invite you to join us in this movement.

Project HEALTH in TIME Magazine: Project HEALTH was recently featured in TIME Magazine's "Power of One" feature. This column focuses on a single person and his or her world-changing program, project, concept, or product. We are honored to have this recognition of the importance of our work.

MacArthur Fellowship: Rebecca Onie, J.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Project HEALTH, has been awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the "genius award." The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. Awarded to talented individuals in a variety of fields who have shown exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits, MacArthur Fellows receive $500,000 grants with no conditions -- recipients may use the money as they see fit. Ms. Onie was selected on the basis of the following criteria: "exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work."

In response to the announcement, Ms. Onie stated: "I am deeply honored by the MacArthur Foundation's recognition of Project HEALTH's ongoing work to address patients' unmet resource needs as a standard part of patient care, especially at a time when health care systems reform is at the top of the national agenda." Please see our Press & Recognition page for more information about the Fellowship.

New Video! Project HEALTH has a brand-new video showcasing our mission and programs. It features a look into how hospitals, volunteers, alumni and others benefit from our critical services to vulnerable families. We invite you to view it today!