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HANYS honors SBH Health System with 2024 Community Health Improvement Award

Statewide healthcare association celebrates the Bronx-located SBH Health and Wellness Center.

The Healthcare Association of New York State is pleased to recognize SBH Health System with the 2024 Community Health Improvement Award for its SBH Health and Wellness Center.

In the Bronx, severe health disparities are evident at the county, borough and neighborhood levels. Structural barriers like unequal income, inadequate housing, food insecurity, limited safe spaces for exercise and safety concerns fuel these inequities.

To tackle these challenges, SBH Health System spearheaded an innovative project with community partners – transforming a parking lot into a groundbreaking health and wellness center. Aimed at fostering a culture of lifelong wellness and self-empowerment within the community, the SBH Health and Wellness Center:

  • addresses housing disparities by constructing 314 low-income housing units, including 94 for the formerly unhoused, and providing support services;
  • promotes health through an urban rooftop farm selling discounted produce, engaging students in healthy food and nutritional education, and offering affordable cooking classes;
  • integrates healthcare with wellness initiatives, by offering prevention programs, addressing chronic disease management and a focus on women and children’s health; and
  • offers a gun violence prevention boxing program that provides at-risk youths with a supportive environment for skill-building and conflict resolution.

“By having programs such as the Wellness Center addressing obesity and diabetes, easy access to a fitness center, easy access to healthy foods, easy access to classes that can get kids off the street, it just, to me, builds the foundations for something that’s going to really change this community in the long run,” said Dr. David Perlstein, president and CEO, SBH Health System.

“Your health depends on so much more than medical care,” said HANYS President Bea Grause, RN, JD. “SBH Health System and its partners have created an exemplary model for how to improve their communities’ overall health and well-being. I commend them for their immediate success and look forward to seeing this initiative’s long-term impact on their community members.”

Strategic partnerships with aligned organizations who possess specialized expertise have been vital to the Health and Wellness Center’s success.

“You can’t do this alone,” said Dr. Perlstein. “You need to find partners who are willing to jump on the bandwagon, who adopt your mission, who share your vision.”

SBH Health System’s partners include Al’s Angels; Bronx Partners for Healthy Communities; Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence; BronxWorks; Bruce Beck, NBC 4; Central Consulting; Charles Fazzino; Food Bank In NYC; Good Shepherd Services; Healthplex Associates; Kayvon Thibodeaux, NY Giants; L&M Development Partners; Lantern Community Services; New York Police Department; NK Architects; NYC Council; NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; NYC Mayor’s Office; NYS Department of Health; Perry Sook, PIX 11; Project Eats; Quincy Enunwa, Jets.com; Sean Stellato (NFL agent); Tina Cervasio, Fox 5; US Marines and Toys for Tots; Weitz Communications.

The Community Health Improvement Award, established by HANYS in 1997, recognizes outstanding initiatives designed to improve the health and well-being of communities. The award is presented to facilities and programs that target specific community health needs while emphasizing the importance of health equity, leadership, collaboration with diverse community partners and achieving quantifiable results.

About HANYS

The Healthcare Association of New York State is New York’s statewide hospital and continuing care association, representing nonprofit and public hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies and other healthcare organizations. HANYS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the health of individuals and communities by providing leadership, representation and service to healthcare providers and systems across the entire continuum of care.

About SBH Health System

SBH Health System (including St. Barnabas Hospital) is committed to improving the health and wellness of its community in Bronx, NYC. It is dedicated to providing the highest quality care in a compassionate, comprehensive and safe environment where the patient always comes first, regardless of their ability to pay.

© 2024 Healthcare Association of New York State, Inc.