This week, Helmsley marked approval of our 100th emergency response grant tied to COVID-19. Our response reflects our commitment to supporting the communities that are the focus of our overall grantmaking. Building on the efforts summarized in our April 20 and March 19 updates, we’ve now awarded emergency response grants through all of our programs, including:
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- Crohn’s Disease Program: We are supporting a patient registry database led by a team at the University of North Carolina and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to understand how COVID-19 may differentially impact people living with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease. We are also ensuring that our longtime grantee, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, can continue to serve its invaluable role as a critical information source for people living with inflammatory bowel diseases.
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- New York City Program: Food insecurity is at a record high in New York City. At the same time, people without steady shelter – many of whom have chronic health conditions – still need access to medical care, and like everyone else want to avoid emergency rooms. To address these dual, urgent needs, we’ve awarded $1.2 million to existing and prior grantees are on the frontlines of emergency food and homeless healthcare provision.
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- Vulnerable Children in Sub-Saharan Africa Program: Ivermectin is an inexpensive, widely-available drug that is used to treat parasitic infections. Notably, early signals suggest it could be effective in treating COVID-19. Through a $1.4 million grant, a research team led by Monash University in Australia will conduct a rapid-result dosing trial to determine what an ideal treatment regimen may comprise.
We remain ready to meet the moment while also fully committed to long-term goals across our programs. Thankfully, much of our COVID-19 emergency response grantmaking supports timely efforts that in fact will yield dividends in the years to come – like ensuring that rural hospitals across the Upper Midwest are outfitted with life-saving LUCAS mechanical CPR machines, and accelerating the transition among specialty diabetes clinics to adopt telehealth practices. Above all, we are committed to impact measured by improvements in people’s lives. To all of our grantees, thank you for all that you do every day to turn this into reality.
Sincerely,
Sandor Frankel, David Panzirer, and Walter Panzirer
Trustees
