Additional Partners Join MetroHealth's Buckeye Community Resource Center

CLEVELAND – The MetroHealth Institute for H.O.P.E.™ recently welcomed several new partners to its Buckeye Community Resource Center to better connect patients and community members on Cleveland’s East Side with the resources they need to live healthier lives.

The resource center is located on the first floor of the MetroHealth Buckeye Health Center at 2816 East 116th St. Organizations currently with space in the resource center include College Now Greater Cleveland, Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, CHN Housing Partners, Family Connections, Goodwill Industries, Greater Cleveland Food Bank, The Legal Aid Society of Greater Cleveland and Seeds of Literacy.

MetroHealth is providing the office space to these organizations at no cost.

“We can’t say it enough: Good health depends on more than proper medical care – that includes access to safe housing, food, utility assistance, educational opportunities and other important social needs,” says Susan Fuehrer, President, Institute for H.O.P.E. “Greater Cleveland is fortunate to have so many incredible organizations committed to helping meet these needs, and we’re thrilled to have several right here in Buckeye.”

Many of the organizations with a presence in the Community Resource Center are also members in Unite Ohio, a coordinated care network launched by MetroHealth and Unite Us, an innovative technology company. Through Unite Ohio, MetroHealth and its partners can seamlessly send and receive electronic referrals, address people’s social needs and ultimately improve the health of the community.

To date, 125 community-based organizations have joined Unite Ohio. The resource center at Buckeye is designed to augment the network and provide more opportunities for face-to-face interaction between the agencies and the individuals they serve. Services at the resource center are open to MetroHealth patients, employees and any member of the community who could benefit.

At every opportunity, MetroHealth screens patients for their social needs – often called the social determinants of health. Through August 2021, MetroHealth had screened more than 60,000 individuals for needs like access to healthy food, digital connectivity, transportation, safe housing and the like.

“So many people in Greater Cleveland need more than a good doctor to live their healthiest lives,” said James Misak, MD, Medical Director, Institute for H.O.P.E.™ “If we truly want to build a healthier Cleveland, it will take organizations from all corners of the community working together to meet people where they are.”

The resource center is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Hours of partner organizations vary.

To learn more about the Institute for H.O.P.E.™, please visit metrohealth.org/hope.