Dallas, TX — Medical City Healthcare, part of HCA Healthcare, announced that the HCA Healthcare Foundation will donate $1.38 million over the next three years to Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) to address mental wellness among girls. The curriculum is aimed at helping girls better understand mental wellness and providing them with skills to strengthen their resilience and support their peers.
“We are grateful to the HCA Healthcare Foundation for its support of Girl Scouts across the nation and here in North Texas,” says Maria Martineau, former Girl Scout and Medical City Healthcare assistant vice president of community engagement. “Addressing the mental wellness of the children in our community could not be more important right now and this grant is a timely example of our steadfast commitment to caring for the community.”
The grant will support Girls Scouts’ Mental Health 101 workshops, comprised of Getting to Know Your Emotions for fourth through fifth-graders, Finding Your Voice for sixth through eighth-graders, and a Peer Support workshop for ninth through twelfth-graders. These workshops, under development now and launching in the summer of 2023, will be created in collaboration with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) subject matter experts.
In communities across the country, Medical City Healthcare and HCA Healthcare are responding to the growing need for mental health awareness through partnerships, including:
- EVERFI: In 2020, HCA Healthcare announced a collaboration with EVERFI, an international technology company driving social change through education, to implement an interactive, mental health and wellness digital education course for middle and high school students. With HCA Healthcare’s support, the Mental Wellness Basics course has reached more than 120,000 students and 1,300 teachers at 548 schools across all 15 of HCA Healthcare’s U.S. divisions, including Medical City Healthcare.
- The Jason Foundation: In 2013, HCA Healthcare formally partnered with The Jason Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the prevention of youth suicide through educational and awareness programs that equip young people, educators/youth workers, and parents with the tools and resources to help identify and assist at-risk youth. HCA Healthcare has 13 Jason Foundation affiliate offices across the nation. These offices serve as hubs where parents, teachers, guidance counselors, students, churches, and other community organizations can obtain educational materials and learn about training programs available through The Jason Foundation.
- Psych Hub podcast series: This year, HCA Healthcare and Psych Hub, the world's largest mental health education platform, in collaboration with Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry, partnered to create a 10-episode podcast series called “You Ask, We Answer” to bring people credible online mental health education.
Additionally, Medical City Healthcare offers comprehensive mental health and wellness services for children, teens and adults at Medical City Green Oaks and Medical City McKinney. These services include inpatient and outpatient treatment for a variety of behavioral health issues such as substance abuse, eating disorders and mood disorders.
The grant to Girl Scouts is funded through the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, an $80 million community impact fund designed to support innovative initiatives focused on addressing high-priority community needs and health equity. Since its inception in 2021, the Healthier Tomorrow Fund has committed $4.5 million in grants to 13 organizations, including $1.35 million to Educate Texas, an initiative of the Communities Foundation of Texas
For more information, visit Girl Scouts corporate and foundation champions.