PALMER — Wing Memorial Hospital & Medical Centers recently received grant funding from the Community Foundation of Western Mass. to establish the Family Violence Intervention Coalition (FVIC).
This regional coalition will address the issue of family violence in the Quaboag Hills region and its activities will be coordinated by The Griswold Center for Behavioral Health at Wing Memorial Hospital. The Griswold Center will work closely with local domestic abuse organizations, educators, medical personnel, and law enforcement to provide the necessary resources for children, adolescents, and adults in need of intervention services.
Through the Family Violence Intervention Coalition, local domestic abuse task force members will be connected to share resources and training.
“Up to this point, each community has been trying to address these chronic, domestic violence problems in isolation,” said Kathleen Norbut, LMHC coordinator for the FVIC. “Now, we have the opportunity to develop a sustainable network of education and intervention activities to improve the health and safety of families.”
The Griswold Center has been helping families in the region for years and the Family Violence Intervention Coalition will help the center reach out to residents in domestic violence situations, added Donna Wood, MSN, Director of The Griswold Center.
The coalition will work with local schools to provide educators and students with information identifying the signs and symptoms of family and teen dating violence. The project will also include outreach to senior centers for identifying elder abuse and steps for intervention. The Hampden County Domestic Violence Task Force, Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School, and the Quaboag Valley Chamber of Commerce provided support for the grant application.
The Community Foundation of Western Mass., through its Board Discretionary Grantmaking Fund and the Credit Data Services Inc. Fund, awarded Wing Memorial Hospital & Medical Centers the grant for 2006.
Wing Memorial Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
