Community Partner: St. Joseph Home
St Joseph Home is a Cincinnati based nonprofit whose mission is “to normalize a higher standard of disability care while sharing the value we see in every person we help to support.” It was founded in 1873 by the Sisters of Charity, when it opened its doors to help women and children in need, fostering the adoptions of nearly 15,000 babies and helping over 10,000 women. Since then, it has blossomed to its current day mission, becoming one of only five certified pediatric ventilator units in the state of Ohio.
Their day program provides adults with recreation that focuses on cultivating communication skills and integration into the broader community. The community home provides residents with the daily support they need to have greater freedom, while the residential cottage provides long term living to residents who require full medical and personal support. They also provide support to the families with their respite care center, where families can stay while their loved ones receive the care they need. Through all these programs, they aim to give all people with complex medical needs and disabilities the care with dignity they deserve.
About Grace
While I briefly left the city to attend college at the University of Dayton (class of 2021), I am a born and raised Cincinnatian, and am so glad to be back in the city for medical school. My undergraduate degree was in pre-medicine, so it only made sense for me to attend medical school, and I hope to match into an Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency program this upcoming spring. I chose to work with St. Joseph Home for this project to combine my passions of service and working with patients with complex medical needs and disabilities, and to advocate for those who aren’t always able to advocate for themselves. In my free-time, I like to take my one-eyed, elderly rescue dog named Frankie on walks in the local parks.