Project HEALTH New York

Project HEALTH envisions a new model of health care delivery, in which patients' unmet resource needs are systematically addressed as a standard element of patient care. In the urban hospitals and health centers where Project HEALTH's Family Help Desk programs operate, physicians can "prescribe" food, housing, job training, fuel assistance, health insurance, or other resources for their low-income patients as routinely as they do medication. Located in the clinic waiting room and staffed by college volunteers, these Family Help Desks "fill" these prescriptions by connecting patients with key community resources. Currently, Project HEALTH's corps of 600 volunteers staffs 17 Family Help Desks serving almost 4,000 families in six cities, including Chicago, Boston, Providence, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. We anticipate that Project HEALTH will engage in substantial growth over the next 3-5 years.