Cooley Dickinson Hospital is making a small investment for big changes in the health of local communities, and students could make all the difference.

The Cooley Dickinson Healthy Communities Committee is offering small grants of up to $5,000 for community projects that aim to make the local communities healthier. This may be a unique opportunity for University of Massachusetts students to get involved locally, according to Jeff Harness, director of the Western Massachusetts Center for Healthy Communities, a Holyoke-based program of Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

“We see a lot of collaboration between community projects and college students and we think it’s a win/win situation,” said Harness. “If UMass students see ways they can get involved, we would encourage that. And, for the projects we fund, we can connect them to interested students.”

According to Kyle Bernier, a UMass sophomore, because the local community is very much a college community, helping out should relate to college students.

“Because this is a college campus, giving out some sort of STD testing could help by making sure that the community is safe,” said Bernier.

One may wonder what constitutes as a community project focused on making the community healthier.

According to Harness, “These grants are unique in that we are defining health broadly, and we are intentionally leaving plenty of room for community project to define for themselves how they want to approach the opportunity.”

However, Harness feels that since health in itself is a difficult topic to pin down to just one definition, the grants are very open to interpretation.

“We decided to not over analyze what it means to be healthy,” he said. “We think that everyone can come up with their own definition of what it means to be healthy. We do know that health is more than just being free of disease and illness. In addition to being physical healthy – this is one common way to think of health – one can also be healthy mentally, spiritually and socially.”

Bernier thought a good idea for a grant could be to start up an internship program at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

“Students could follow a doctor around to let them know what being a doctor is like,” said Bernier. “That could help people decide if they would like to go into the medical field.”

UMass student Sonia Righter, thought that helping a younger generation would be a beneficial way to help the health of local communities.

“I think that it is important for people in college to have a good influence on younger kids,” said Righter.

Ideas are readily available, but when faced with the issue of community health, many students jump to the suggestion of helping the local homeless community.

UMass sophomore Mari Nazzaro has worked at the Amherst Survival Center and knows first hand of the issues that face the homeless.

“There is a really big [homeless] community locally, so I think that’s an area around here that could use a lot of focus,” said Nazzaro.

Bernier agrees that helping the health of the community means helping the homeless.

“Walking through town you see a lot of homeless people,” said Bernier. “Getting food for the homeless could definitely help out the community.”

The main goals of the grants are specifically to form a healthy community, but it is also clear that the grants also aim to produce a connected community. Health, according to Harness, actually comes from this connection.

“We know that when people are connected to others in their community, and when they trust each other, make decisions together and work together, health is a naturally occurring by-product,” said Harness.

“Even if we don’t understand all of the details of how that works, though we do understand some of it, an engaged citizenry is an important part of a healthy community.”

Grant applications are currently being accepted through Monday, March 31 and awards will be made in early spring. To submit a proposal, E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (413) 540-0340 or Mail: Cooley Dickinson Hospital ATTN: Healthy Communities Mini-grants 30 Locust Street P.O. Box 5001 Northampton, MA 01061-5001

Eden Univer can be reached at [email protected].