Independent Health Foundation, formed to save First Night Buffalo, does lots more [The Buffalo News, N.Y.]

Dec. 23—Necessity built the Independent Health Foundation.

It emerged 30 years ago, when First Night Buffalo became too big to manage for its founding organization, Western New York United Against Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and its leaders asked the second-largest health insurer in the region if it could step in to help find partners and sponsors.

Independent Health created a charitable arm during the process, one that continues to take the lead in First Night, which for the second straight New Year's Eve will unfold online next week because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Three decades in, the late-December bash is just the start of a yearlong slate of programs for a foundation that began with one-off wellness programs. That changed in the early 2000s with more consistent, comprehensive efforts to boost the lives of the most vulnerable children and families in the region — a labor of love designed to help set a healthy standard for all in Western New York.

"At first, we would see thousands of people in a year, and events and programs would be heavily attended," said Carrie Meyer, who joined the foundation staff in 1995 and became its executive director eight years later. "Then we asked, 'How can we really make an impact on the lives of the people that we are serving? We have evolved."

The foundation works with others to promote positive, healthy changes and behaviors, provide health education and wellness screenings to underserved populations and empower all to become better educated health care consumers.

Schools, fellow foundations, community groups and businesses help with that mission.

More than 100 related events take place annually across the region, including six signature programs and events: First Night Buffalo, Kids Run Buffalo, the Fitness for Kids Challenge, Soccer for Success, Good for the Neighborhood and Healthy Options. All are free.

"People know that they need to exercise more, that they need to quit smoking, that they need to lose weight," Meyer said, but studies show that "scare tactics" often fall short when stressing that failure to do so can lead to cancer, diabetes and other disease.

"We need to provide access to healthy activities in fun and welcoming and engaging ways," she said, "and that's what we try to do."

Financial backing

The foundation operates on a budget of about $3.5 million a year. All administrative and operational expenses are covered by Independent Health, allowing all funding from foundations and corporate donors to directly support programs that serve those most in need.

"We welcome everyone to our programs," Meyer said, regardless of what, if any, health insurance they have.

"Many other organizations are looking at the bottom line," said Stuart Angert, chair of the 15-member foundation board. "Independent Health always wanted to be invested in the community. We're in a renaissance in Buffalo, New York, for a small portion of the community, but what about the rest that are just hanging on by their fingernails?"

Foundation programs equip parents and children challenged with transportation issues, access to healthy foods and recreational opportunities, as well as other social determinants of health.

"If you're living next to a 7-Eleven, guess what you're eating?" Angert said. "Chips and dips."

The foundation started the Healthy Options program in 2003 to promote better eating across the region, successfully pitching Taste of Buffalo, Food Truck Tuesdays and restaurants to provide at least some dishes lower in salt, fat, added sugar and calories.

A new twist on the existing program, Healthy Options at Home, emphasizes a teaching approach. The effort, launched this year with more than 400 families, provides weekly meal kits for several weeks to families.

The kits include recipes, ingredients, a pot, cutting board, measuring cups and spoons, a colander, utensils and a related app with cooking demonstrations and healthy eating tips.

"Each meal that we're providing is less than $2 per person to make," Meyer said.

Kunjané Lyons-Latimer has whipped up black bean burgers, flatbread pizza and other dishes for her boyfriend, Eric Glenn, and their children, Endaya, 16, Zion, 4, and Zéla, 4 months.

"I've never made a sweet potato taco before," said Lyons-Latimer, a typist in the Buffalo Public Schools Special Education Department. "This is definitely different, and I just like the idea of doing things from scratch."

She has found she can stretch the ingredients into two or three meals, and is grateful the recipes fit in with the family's interest to eliminate red meat and processed foods in favor of whole, healthy foods.

The Fitness for Kids program started in 2004, Good for the Neighborhood in 2006 and Soccer for Success in 2012. Those who participate can do so more than once.

Dr. Michael Cropp recommended that shift in approach while he was medical director with Independent Health. He became president and CEO in 2004.

"The organizations that we partner with, and the communities that we are there to serve, know that we're going to be there," Cropp said. "It's building trust, and it's hard to do, but being there more often really helps."

Able partners

Angert worked in executive posts in the automotive and banking industries before he retired two decades ago. He serves on several college, company and nonprofit boards. That included a dozen years on the Independent Health corporate board before he recently moved to the foundation board. He and fellow members grew up in the region or arrived for opportunities that panned out, so they stayed.

"We've shifted so many things based on board members coming out to see firsthand some of the programming that we do, and providing input and feedback," Meyer said. The foundation's 14-member staff also makes it a point to listen to recommendations of those they serve, then act on them.

Six-year board veteran Karen Brim has been a clinical pharmacist with Independent Health for most of the last 30 years. The Buffalo native is a graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and lives in the Walden Heights neighborhood, one of the poorest in the region.

"I understand the community," she said, "and am dedicated to living in this community."

Brim got involved with the foundation by volunteering at the "Ask the Pharmacist" table at Good for the Neighborhood health and wellness fairs. She also volunteers with Soccer for Success.

Ann McCarthy joined the board five years ago after she retired as Wegmans consumer affairs manager for the Buffalo district.

"I used to always love it when the phone would ring and Carrie was at the other end," McCarthy said. "It would be an idea I never heard of before. It would be an idea that was aligned with our mission, and she'd have a great team supporting her."

Measuring the impact

It can be hard to draw a straight line between participation and results, but those involved try — and say the effort is worthwhile in a region that routinely ranks as the least healthy in New York State.

Participants give a 95% satisfaction rate across all programming, Meyer said, and surveys suggest roughly three-quarters of families involved in the new Healthy Options at Home program are eating more fruits and vegetables. Many who once were served in related programs now volunteer to help run them, including some on the foundation staff.

Meyer, Cropp and foundation board members also hope the newest program, Growing Up Strong, will strengthen momentum.

The foundation borrowed the idea from Healthy Steps Specialists, based in Washington, D.C., and growing nationally. Started two months ago, and slowed by the pandemic, it will soon start to embed counselors and social workers into pediatric practices to help families better address and overcome challenges that include financial stress, reliable housing, transportation and food supplies, and adequate clothing and child care.

The program already helped provide a refrigerated truck to the African Heritage Food Co-Op to provide fresh produce in city neighborhoods.

"With the Growing Up Strong initiative, we can really start to put resources in the hands of the families that need it most," Meyer said. The more children are educated and supported, she said, the more resilient they will be when faced with future challenges.

First Night Buffalo 2021

Hosts: Independent Health Foundation and Oishei Children's Hospital

When: Anytime Dec. 31 at firstnightbuffalo.org, after videos of performers will be added to the website. Organizers decided to celebrate New Year's Eve online after a survey of families showed 95% of those who responded preferred it that way.

Performers: Include Jeff Musial of Nickel City Reptiles and Exotics; Nick Presents Magic; Dance Party with DJ Milk; In Jest juggling with Nels Ross; Emmalee's Memories storybook heroes; Slyboots Circus; and The Puppet Nerd.

First Night Buffalo Family Party Packs: Designed for up to four, they're available for $20 while supplies last at Tops Friendly Markets. They include party hats, a disco ball lightbulb, balloons, noisemakers and more, along with free admission to the Fairgrounds Festival of Lights in Hamburg.

OTHER FOUNDATION PROGRAMS

Good for the Neighborhood

These quarterly health fairs bring wellness-related training and tools to communities where access to health care is limited. More than 8,200 bags of produce were distributed at 30 locations this year.

Healthy Options Buffalo

This program works with restaurants to offer heart-healthy food options considered lower in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. It also helps inform decisions about nutritious eating to help address high rates of stroke and heart disease in the region.

Child fitness

Related programs include the Fitness for Kids Challenge, which promotes regular exercise in more than 500 school classrooms each year to boost learning; Soccer for Success, an after-school program proven to help more than 1,500 kids establish healthy habits and develop critical life skills; and Kids Run Buffalo, an annual 1.8-mile walk/run that draws more than 7,000 children and their family members.

Partnerships

The foundation supports its parent corporation with efforts that include Fitness in the Parks, a Health and Wellness Challenge with the Buffalo Bills, and related programming with the Buffalo Niagara YMCA, Explore Buffalo, Slow Roll Buffalo, Reddy Bikeshare, Buffalo PAL Play Streets and Biggest Loser. The foundation also helps bolster programming at the Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo RiverWorks, Larkin Square, Martin Luther King Jr. Park and Tifft Nature Preserve.

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