Heywood Hospital gets $650K to improve health in Winchendon

Photo | Google Heywood Hospital in Gardner

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Heywood Hospital in Gardner has received a state grant of nearly $650,000 to help improve community health in the adjacent small town of Winchendon.

The funding was announced Wednesday by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission and Department of Public Health as part of a new joint program called MassUP. The initiative is aimed at addressing causes of poor health outcomes and health disparities across the state.

Winchendon has a per-capita income of $31,098, compared to a state average of $41,794, with 11.5% of its residents living in poverty, according to 2018 U.S. Census data.

The programs partners will include the Community Health Network for North Central Massachusetts, GFA Federal Credit Union, Growing Places, The Winchendon School, Three Pyramids, the Town of Winchendon and the Winchendon Community Action Council.

Heywood and Winchendon are sharing $2.5 million announced to four recipients. Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton received funds to help communities across Hampshire County, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to aid Chelsea and Revere residents, and Mercy Medical Center in Springfield to help neighborhoods in that city.

The MassUP program, which is due to launch this fall, focuses on access to food and on economic stability and mobility. Goals of the program are to help residents find better health, lower healthcare costs and reduced health inequities. The Health Policy Commission chose the four recipients out of 22 applications across the state from 13 hospitals, five community health centers, and four accountable care organizations or other provider organizations.