Indiana Public Health Foundation, Inc.

a 501 (C) 3 not for profit corporation

3512 Rockville Road, Suite 138-C, Indianapolis, In 46222

History and Mission

Mission

The Indiana Public Health Foundation, Inc. is an independent, public-not-for-profit health institute dedicated to promote and protect the health of the individual through education, research and resource management, to achieve a higher quality of life, a healthy environment, and to foster greater knowledge of public health.  The Foundation promotes community health, leadership, assessment, availability of services, educational opportunities for articulating health trends, and supports sound public health policy.

The Foundation advocates the improvement of population-based health protection services that intervene and prevent disease, injury and environmental problems that affect all the citizens regardless of social or economic status.  This pubic health policy has saved millions of lives and brought about control of disease, injury prevention, and an improved environment and greater attention to chronic diseases.  It emphasize the need for intervention and prevention to advance the health of all citizens.  Public health targets the health status of the total population in contrast to public medicine, which provides services for direct care.  It seeks to achieve its mission by creating opportunities for Indiana citizens to practice healthy lifestyles as a way to improve the health status.  This is accomplished through education, research and services aimed at improving the quality of life.

History

May 1964   The Indiana Public Health Foundation, Inc. was chartered in May of 1964 and was launched under the leadership and direction of A.C. Offutt, M.D.  It was established for the purpose of employing the necessary means to advance and promote  research, studies and demonstrations needed for the advancement of public health. The Foundation also served as a resource management agency (fiscal) for educational conferences conducted by program areas of the Indiana State Board of  Health; i.e. The Governor's Conference  for the Handicapped; American College of Surgeons;  Emergency Medical Services  for school bus operators training program  in cooperation with the  Indiana Traffic Safety Council and the State Department of Public Instruction (a three year program); National Congress Parent-Teachers Research Grant on the Effects of  Tobacco on Health (a video production )and hypertension.  Over a four-year period, the Foundation assisted special committees with expertise to develop criteria and standards for use in state wide planning for special medical problems in acute care, including open heart surgery, cardiac catherization and angiography, radiation therapy, end stage renal disease and perinatal care. The  Foundation served as the fiscal agent for the development of the State Health Planning Agency and employed the staff required to develop the agency.  The Foundation accepted the responsibility to serve as the fiscal agent for a number of special education and training programs for home health care personnel, long term care, nutrition education for the patient, and medical care in-service education. The Foundation also generated some revenue through the sale of educational materials. 

1967   A series of seminars  for local health officers on Current Developments in Public Health  were initiated in 1967 with a 314(d) grant. These seminars, which provide continuing medical education credits for physicians, are continued today using registration fees.  The Foundation also provides continuing education unit seminars for the Indiana Educational Embalmers Affiliate, whose members are licensed funeral directors and embalmers.  These Seminars are also funded through registration fees.

1983   The Foundation initiated the first seminars on Medicines' Contribution to Independent Living for the Elderly Population in 1983. These programs continued for ten years.

October 1985  “The Tony and Mary Hulman Health Achievement Awards" (Indiana’s Premier Health Award) were inaugurated on October 1, 1985.  Forest Tucker, a personal friend of Mary Fendrich Hulman, served as the principal speaker at the first awards dinner.  Over 300 people attended this event.

1995   In 1995 twenty-nine professional health organizations including  legal, industrial and professional health care providers were brought together and developed the first Congress on Health Care on the Impact of Regulations on the Health Care Industry. The Congress continued until the year two thousand with a number of spin off programs being developed as a result.

2006   In 2006 The Indiana Public Health Foundation, Inc.  and the Indiana Association of Public Health Physicians, Inc. held  "A Summit on Public Health and the Law" in cooperation with partners including the American Bar Association, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, ICE Miller LLP, Indiana Hospital and Health Association, I.U. School of law-Indianapolis, Marion County Health Department, Public Health Law Program and the Hall Center for Law and Health at I.U. School of Law.  The Foundation was also a partner with the Marion County Health Department and the Indiana Department of Education in providing a "Summit on Pandemic Flu and Other Emerging Health Issues" for school nurses and county health nurses throughout Indiana.

In addition to the early responsibility  for grants  management, the Foundation  has  served during the past several years as the fiscal management agency for  Grief and Loss Grants, funded by the Bindley Foundation and Simon Foundation; a Family Preservation grant funded through the Family and Social Services Agency (FSSA); and Family Preservation grants from the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH), Women's Fund, and St Vincent's.