Our Mission
In Sickness and In Health is a NJ nonprofit
corporation whose mission is to promote health and well-being in underserved communities, both in the United States and internationally,
through projects devoted to improving access to health care, quality of health care, and health literacy.
Dr. Lee Shearer and John Radice founded In
Sickness and In Health in 2007. The organization focuses on addressing health care disparities and seeks
to support projects such as outreach, education, humanitarian relief, disease prevention, and health promotion. We aim to fund projects in which we are actively involved, dedicating our time, thought, and energy, and allowing for
close monitoring of projects.
In
2007 Lee joined the Botswana-UPenn Partnership program at Princess Marina Hospital, profiled in the cover story of the March/April 2007 Pennsylvania Gazette. Over the next several years, In Sickness and In Health helped
to develop and fund a hand-hygiene program there, working closely with the Infection Control Office locally. In Sickness and In Health donated anti-microbial hand-wash and dispensers to the
patient wards, helped to design an educational hand-hygiene curriculum and a surveillance tool to assess hand-hygiene compliance, and sponsored
the creation of instructional hand-hygiene and medical-waste disposal posters for patients and staff. None of
this could have been accomplished without the energy and assistance of our on-the-ground summer interns.
| Hand-hygiene instructional poster, PMH |
|
| Photo by Ryan Littman-Quinn |
Regular hand washing cuts infection transmission rates dramatically, and given the low cost, offers a fantastic return
on investment. These types of projects are precisely the type of targeted, efficient, and effective work
that In Sickness and In Health seeks to continue to fund.
Since then, the Infection Control Office has undertaken a bid to secure regional accreditation
for the hospital, with a focus on hand-hygiene. In Sickness and In Health is proud of the progress made and of the
strides the Princess Marina is now taking to forge ahead in infection control.
Organization News
In 2010, Lee began working as a Fellow in Adolescent Medicine in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan
where the patient population of predominantly Spanish-speaking immigrants has remarkably limited access to health resources.
Sexually transmitted disease and unplanned teenage pregnancy are prevalent, and reproductive health education is limited.
Recognizing that education represents a critical tool for health promotion
among local adolescents, In Sickness and In Health donated fully equipped Reproductive Health Education Kits to an
adolescent health clinic affiliated with Columbia University. The hands-on kits are designed with adolescents in mind to make
learning concrete and immediate. The kits have the added benefit of helping to train health care providers in sexual and reproductive
health counseling.
Our Future
Please consider supporting In Sickness and In Health and the positive
change achieves. Other examples of projects that In Sickness
and In Health may pursue include:
--funding a local outreach project to encourage transitioning urban youth
to establish care with an adult provider as they age out of Pediatric care
--providing medical supplies
to a humanitarian relief mission
--supporting
research on young women's reproductive health in a developing country
Our Commitment to Contributors
In Sickness and In Health pledges
to our contributors that all donations go directly to fund our programs. The founders cover the administrative
costs so that 100% of your donations go where you intend -- to the beneficiaries of our programs.
Care to Donate?
To contribute online please select an amount from the drop-down menu below.
Alternately, you may contribute via personal check, made out to “In
Sickness and In Health,” and mail it to:
In Sickness and In Health
c/o John Radice
6 Dennick Court
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In Sickness and In Health is a tax exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code, and donations made to In Sickness and In Health are deductible to the full extent permitted
by law. If you have questions or need a copy of our exemption letter, please contact us.
If your employer has a matching-gift program or if you would like to discuss a gift
of appreciated securities, please email or call us at 646-245-8502 prior to donating.
