The Farm Place, Inc., has received a Community Health Improvement grant from Parkview LaGrange Hospital in the amount of $10,000. The funds will go toward operating expenses of The Farm Place and its Animal Companionship Center (ACC), located about a mile north of LaGrange.
Construction of the ACC is slated for April of 2022. Its purpose is to provide a private, safe environment where area professionals can facilitate court-ordered visitations and life skills training, with the added benefit of comfort animal therapy. Currently, children affected by the trauma of separation from their parents must endure these visitations in very public places, such as fast-food restaurants, park benches, or library study rooms.
The ACC will offer private meeting rooms that can be scheduled by agencies such as the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS), Northeastern Center, and Bowen Center at no cost, and will be available to agencies in the four northeast Indiana counties. Small farm animals will be housed in the barn and stables attached to the ACC to offer comforting companionship to children visiting the Center.
Parkview LaGrange Hospital’s generosity, through the Parkview Health Community Health Improvement Program, is timely in helping to provide for The Farm, as it will get us off to a good start by helping to cover the operating expenses of the ACC, including power, water, and food for the on-site animals. Christina Blaskie, community health manager for Parkview LaGrange, was very patient and helpful in the process, and we are deeply grateful.
Parkview’s mission is to improve the health of individuals in all communities within the scope of its service area. The Community Health Improvement Program – funded in LaGrange County by a percentage of income Parkview LaGrange Hospital sets aside annually – is one way in which mission translates into traditional patient care as well as health services beyond their facility walls. Parkview collaborates with and supports other community organizations to address unmet health needs through community health initiatives. Types of support include program and event support.
About The Farm Place
Established in 2016, The Farm Place, Inc., is a faith-based initiative whose mission is “To provide a safe, nurturing, and restorative place for children in need through animal companionship and other therapeutic methods.” In Phase I of The Farm Place, ten acres of land was purchased and a three-story, eight-bedroom, handicap-accessible home was built and paid for. A licensed foster family occupies the home, and more than 40 children have passed through its doors since March of 2020.
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