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APPALACHIAN LIFE QUALITY INITIATIVE (ALQI)
Phone 423-569-2677 Fax 423-569-2678 e-mail alqi@highland.net
SYNOPSIS
The Appalachian Life Quality Initiative (ALQI), a 501(c) (3) corporation, located in Oneida, TN was created in 1999 to bring healthcare, educational, and related services to the underserved in the ten counties of the ELGIN Foundation (formerly B. R. Thompson Charitable Trust) with Scott County, a Federal Empowerment Community, as its program base. The ten counties are:
TN-Scott, Knox, Anderson and Blount; KY-Leslie, Clay, Laurel, Bell; and VA-Buchanan and Tazewell. ALQI has a six member Board of Directors to govern the programs in Scott Co that are chosen based on the greater need of the community, especially for children. The following 12 active and 2 retired programs are currently supported by ALQI in Scott County, TN.
Scott County Dental Clinic. In 1999 there were over 4,000 children with TennCare which no dentist in Scott County accepted. The Scott County Dental Clinic opened in 2000 with the county paying for the building remodeling, as well as rent and utilities. Dental equipment for the Clinic was donated from all across the state of TN. Each year volunteer dentists screen students in the schools, and provide donated toothbrushes/paste and dental education. A new program will ensure that the children who need dental care are seen by a dentist. (See next item). In January 2007 the Clinic had 4,106 patients. No child is turned away! ALQI is proud to provide support and oversight for this Clinic.
Children's Health and Maintenance Plan (CHAMP): To ensure treatment for those children with caries, the CHAMP program organizes the dental screenings in schools and makes personal family contact until the problem is resolved. The program is designed for pre/post self-esteem tests, grades and attendance to be collected. The statistical outcomes will provide information on the effectiveness of the ALQI programs and will be provided to the schools, used for grants, and research. In 2005 CHAMP expanded to include obesity and is presently working with the Boys & Girls Club and local Health Council on fitness programs.
Children's Center of the Cumberlands (CCC), a regional accredited children's advocacy center striving to reduce the trauma to physically, sexually, and mentally abused victims, and to promote healing. Working with the District Attorney General, it brings the medical examiner and the investigation teams to the child. Medical examinations, interviews, and counseling takes place on site by a licensed Counselor and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner to prepare the case for prosecution. Educational programs at 8 schools work to reduce incidents of child abuse. This program is over 5 years old and is a self-sustaining program at this time.
Scott County Telemedicine Sixty video units in the homes of congestive heart failure (CHF) and diabetic patients needing frequent monitoring, permitting them to be assessed in their homes eliminating travel for medical visits. A second grant targeting behavioral health, and administered by the University of Tennessee, has seen extremely successful use of Telemedicine between the Scott County Hospital and Ridgeview Mental Health Facility in Oak Ridge, TN. This program is now self-sustaining.
Students Together Allowing No Drugs (STAND) Created by Juvenile Judge Jamie Cotton to prevent and stop drug abuse among school children from 6th through 12th grades. The strength of this program is if a student wishes to participate in ANY school activity (sports, clubs, field trips, even parking on school property), the student must submit to drug testing. For those testing positive, counseling after school and transportation are mandatory. Records are confidential and destroyed at graduation. Now self-sustaining.
Boys & Girls Club and Community Center - To meet a critical shortage of daycare facilities, on August 18, 2002 Boys & Girls Clubs were activated at two sites after school for all six of the Scott Co. Elementary students-enrollment was over 700 for ages K-6. Having outgrown the allotted space at the two schools, an ALQI grant purchased property on which a new $3.8 million 40,000 sq.ft. facility was opened on January 29, 2006. Grades 7-12 were added and membership has grown to over 1,000 with average attendance of 250-300 per day. The 121' x 81' collegiate sized gym will seat 600 and may be rented. The community has use of the facility when children are not present. The facility was made possible through pledges, donations, grants and bond issues.
Salvation Army-Scott Co. Service Unit Organized in 2002 through ALQI, Bell Ringing funds are used for assistance on past due utility bills and burnouts for families in need. Each year up to 40 underserved children attend Camp Paradise at Dale Hollow Lake (TN), and a full scale toy distribution effort is made in December. Furniture, clothing and sometimes food are usually available.
Scott County Women's Shelter In 2004 a grant provided a Counselor for over 800 women and children seen at the shelter annually. Furniture, food, clothing, office supplies and other items are also supplied to the Shelter for the use of them and their extended families that come there.
Remote Area Medical Clinic (RAM) In February 2004 a RAM Clinic in Scott County saw 773 patients. 304 were tested and issued eye glasses; 37 mammograms; dentists saw 320 patients performing 929 extractions, 218 fillings, and 38 cleanings. ALQI is proud to help find the volunteers to work at the clinic, provide the food, funding, and be the contact for RAM in Scott County.
Mission of Hope: They bring back packs filled with school supplies and at Christmas, toys for the children. ALQI participates and serves as a contact point for the many services and goods they donate to the county.
Imagination Library: Dolly Parton's program that mails a book a month to every child from birth to age five. Beginning with an ALQI grant, Scott County leads the state in numbers having registered over 1,414 of the 1500 eligible children.
School Academic Fund: Where each teacher in one of our neediest schools may apply to ALQI for grants up to $700 to be used in the classroom to enhance learning. 19 grants for over $13,000 were awarded to the teachers during school year 2005-2006.
Second Harvest: ALQI assisted with the backpack program where children were able to take needed food home. Kids Café is the newest program in Scott County and is located in the Boys & Girls Club.
Data Collection: Working with the schools using privacy ID numbers of the students in gathering dental screening results, grades, attendance, self-esteem pre/post testing, and Short Form Assessment for Children, the program provides quantifiable objectives, outcome evaluation methodologies, performance indicators, financial sustainability strategies, and time lines. This information is used in the schools, for grants, and for research.
ALQI works and supports the chosen programs not only with grant writing and administrative needs, but with information for assessment of health needs, data collection, program development, and establishing self-sufficiency. In the six years of ALQI, we have received various donations from the local and surrounding communities totaling over $1,500,000; worked with UT on Federal grants in the amount $1,143,000; and obtained other grants of over $7,000,000. An active, excited, and diverse Board of Directors, with the support of the ELGIN Foundation and its long-range vision, has been vital to the success of ALQI in Scott County.
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