$83,005 Awarded for Rehabilitation Services
Round 1, 2022
$13,651 for rehabilitation staff education in swallowing, neuroscience and vision rehabilitation
$5,175 to the Minnesota Ballet for ABLE programming (Adaptive Ballet Lessons for Everybody)
$14,000 to the Minnesota Masonic Children’s Clinic for the integration of occupation therapy for children with communication disorders
$9,100 to the University of Minnesota, Duluth to help college students learn to provide physical education to children with disabilities
$20,511 for iPad updates throughout rehabilitation services
$13,168 to study the use of virtual reality for people with neurological disorders
$7,400 to purchase a specialized monitor to assess swallowing
2021 Miller-Dwan Foundations Innovations/Greatest Need Fund
$12,000 for a University of Wisconsin, Superior/Miller-Dwan Foundation Mental Health Planning Partnership to address unmet mental health needs in Douglas County
$15,000 for a Miller-Dwan Building Serenity Space – a space specifically designed to support staff.
$25,000 to the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault for the provision of psychotherapy services.
$15,000 to The Pruitt Center for Mindfulness and Well-Being‘s 2021 Virtual Fall Speaker Series
$20,000 to support Amberwing’s work to provide information and outreach services
$2,500 Misc. Community Support
2021 Miller-Dwan Foundation Van Gorden Funds
$48,370 to NorthLakes Community Clinic to expand their occupational therapy lending closet allowing community members to experience therapeutic services at home.
$3,900 to the ThinkFirst Collaborative of Duluth, a collaborative team of healthcare providers working to eliminate accidental brain injury among children.
$18,799 for inpatient rehabilitation services equipment (includes pediatric incontinence additional supplies (check for first peds incontinence grant)
$3,500 to the Minnesota Ballet’s ABLE Program providing ballet education for those who are other-abled.
$10,000 to True North Adaptive Yoga. This program provides specialized yoga education for those who have difficulty moving.
2020
From the Innovations Fund
$25,000 to Life House for the provision of mental health services
$130,000 continuation of 2019/2020 funding to the Lake Superior Community Health Center for their Northern Minnesota Rural Mental Health Outreach Program designed to support farmer’s mental health.
$10,000 to 23rd Veteran for 23V Recon, a program that relies on exercise, comradery and positive psychology to address PTSD and related combat-related mental health problems.
$25,000 to the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) for direct therapeutic mental health services
$10,000 to the Clarity Project for facilitation that will result in improvements in the Region 3 behavioral health system by creating a new trauma-informed, person-centered comprehensive behavioral health care center for those experiencing behavioral health crisis and/or concerns.
$40,000 to the Miller-Dwan Inpatient Rehabilitation Center to purchase necessary rehabilitation equipment that support healing of those who are recovering from stroke, brain injury and other neurological challenges.
From the Van Gorden Sara Young Education Fund
$8,866 to the Essentia Health Therapy Center to provide oncology rehabilitation education to 50 rehabilitation staff.
From the Van Gorden New Initiatives Outreach Fund
$16,985 to the Minnesota Masonic Children’s Clinic to expand access to and training for children who need communication tools and services.
$3,500 to the Minnesota Ballet for a weekly adaptive ballet class that accommodates the wide range of abilities and experiences of children with developmental challenges.
$15,000 to Courage Kenny Duluth for the Great Lake Mono-Ski Madness, an event designed to provide downhill adaptive skiing activities and education.
$50,000 to the Miller-Dwan Inpatient Rehabilitation Center to purchase necessary rehabilitation equipment
Additional Van Gorden Funding
$260,014 to support the move of Polinsky Medical Rehabilitation Services from the downtown campus to the Miller Hill Health Plaza.
$197,803 Awarded in the Final 2019 Miller-Dwan Foundation Grant Round
From the Innovations Fund
$130,000 to Lake Superior Community Health Center for the development and implementation of a new Northern Minnesota Rural Mental Health Outreach program aimed at providing mental health services to northern Minnesota farmers.
$25,000 to Life House for mental health peer recovery support programming to help homeless and street youth who have serious mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders.
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Van Gorden New Initiatives Outreach Fund
$15,000 to Courage Kenny Duluth for it’s annual Great Lake Mono-Ski Madness, an adaptive skiing camp for children and adults with neuromuscular disorders, spina bifida, amputation and cerebral palsy.
$3,500 to the Minnesota Ballet for creative dance programming that meets rehabilitation goals for youth with developmental challenges.
$10,000 to True North Adaptive Yoga for the provision of adaptive yoga for people with a variety of disabilities.
From the Sara M. Young Education Fund
$855 to the Essentia Health Therapy Center for an evidence-based Concussion Evaluation and Management conference for Duluth- area rehabilitation clinicians.
$13,448 to Essentia Health for a two-day Neuroscience of Pain training for rehabilitation clinicians from throughout northeaster Minnesota.
Annual Year-to-Date Funding
$86,021 to Solvay Hospice House for compassionate and dignified end-of-life care.
$89,053 to Amberwing – Center for Youth & Family Well-Being for the provision of mental health programming for patients ages birth to 26 and their families.
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Innovations Fund
$12,360 to Essentia Health Integrative Health to make more integrative health clinicians available by sending them to a five-day Institute for Functional Medicine course called Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice.
$51,752 to the Essentia Institute for Rural Health for Phase II of the Duluth Resilience Project, a research project that builds on the long-standing and well-known Adaptive Childhood Experience (ACE) study by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that demonstrates an association of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with health and social problems as an adult.
$26,010 to the College of St. Scholastica to enhance and expand the opportunity for students to learn and understand mental health care through simulation.
$8,000 to Harbor House Crisis Shelters in Douglas County, Wisconsin to incorporate art therapy for homeless children into all levels of care as a means of emotional expression and behavior regulation.
$5,900 to Northland Children’s Mental Health Collaborative for a website update and promotion, which will allow families to find available resources and better understand various aspects of mental health care, such as accessing crisis services, navigating insurance and understanding terminology.
$20,000 to the Clarity Project, a broad-based collaborative effort exploring the creation of a 24-hour first-point-of-contact location for people experiencing a mental health crisis.
$20,000 Aspirus Iron River Hospital and Clinics in Iron River, Michigan for improved digital mammography services.
$7,000 to Generations Health Care Initiatives for Northland Healthy Minds a broad-based collaborative effort designed to help eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness.
$10,000 to the Damiano Center for Health Realization Programming, a group-based model of addiction education, inspiration and information.
$25,000 to the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) for therapeutic services specially designed to serve victims of sexual violence.
$25,000 per year for three years to Life House for mental health and wellness programming for homeless youth.
60,691 Saint Ann’s Residence to improve security.
$20,000 to ISD 709 for Sources of Strength (S.O.S), a suicide prevention program, is designed to build protective influences and reduce the likelihood that vulnerable youth will become suicidal.
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Van Gorden Fund
$6,611 to the Benedictine Living Community of Duluth to support rehabilitation care through the purchase of an accessible NUSTEP adaptive bicycle.
$19,518 to the Scottish Rite to help children and parents bridge the barriers of autism using documented social, emotional, and communicative developmental guidelines.
$16,585 to the Lighthouse Center for Vision Loss to support Safe at Home with Vision Loss, a program designed to improve independence, safety and quality of life for older adults with vision loss.
$15,000 for Courage Kenny Northland’s Great Lake Mono-Ski Madness, a three-day adaptive skiing workshop for people with disabilities.
$10,000 to the Duluth YMCA for True North Adaptive Yoga, a yoga program especially suited to people with disabilities
$3,500 to the Minnesota Ballet to fund creative dance for children with physical challenges.
$11,850 to Polinsky Medical Rehabilitation Center for pressure mapping related to wheelchair seating and mobility. Funding will allow clinicians to provide a comprehensive evaluation of seating and positioning to decrease the risk for developing pressure sores and skin breakdown.
$4,400.00 to Polinsky Medical Rehabilitation Center for a driving assessment program to help identify specific situations and driving errors that cognitively impaired individuals make compared to normal, healthy drivers of the same age group.
$18,829 to the Essentia Health Fitness and Therapy Center for high speed motion analysis programming, which will help clinicians analyze and explain dysfunction related to running, throwing and other high-speed athletic endeavors.
$31,621 to the Essentia Health Fitness and Therapy Center to remodel the Esko physical therapy site.
$39,379 to NorthLakes Community Clinic in Ashland, Wisconsin for an occupational therapy lending closet expansion that allows people to try therapeutic equipment prior to purchasing.
$23,900 to Essentia Health Miller-Dwan Physical Rehabilitation Services to purchase specialized googles to help assess problems of dizziness and balance.
$75,000 to Essentia Health Miller-Dwan Physical Rehabilitation Services to purchase specialized equipment to help assess swallowing problems.
$4,500 to Essentia Health St Mary’s Hospital Superior for staff training in motivational interviewing, a counseling method that helps people resolve ambivalent feelings and insecurities to find the internal motivation they need to change behavior
$3,000 to the Essentia Health Miller-Dwan Rehabilitation Center for speech/language practitioners to learn new respiratory muscle training techniques.
$6,777 to Essentia Health Miller-Dwan Rehabilitation Center to fund a two-day physical therapy body taping workshop for staff.
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Innovations Fund
$6,380 to the University of Minnesota, Duluth for research that explores the creation of tube-shaped sensors which may have implications for endoscopy and other critical medical evaluation efforts
$29,995 to Essentia Health Ophthalmology for a Micro Pulse Laser for specialized glaucoma treatment
$90,000 to Essentia Health Duluth Surgery for new Trident Breast Imaging technology to more quickly evaluate breast biopsies
$5,000 to Harbor House Crisis Shelters to teach life skills to formerly homeless children
$19,953 to Well Being Development in Ely, MN to expand Northern Lights Clubhouse adult mental health services
$10,284 to Essentia Behavioral Health to purchase electronic tablets that help enhance and streamline the patient assessment services
$4,900 to the Early Childhood Mental Health Resource Team for the promotion of social and emotional health for children through family consultation
$25,000 to Life House for mental health and wellness programming that helps youth heal from the trauma of abuse, exploitation and homelessness
$7,510 to Essentia Health’s Chronic Opioid Analgesic Therapy Program for integrative pain management strategies
$8,000 to the Damiano Center for Health Realization, a cognitive skill-building program that teaches participants how to work through stress and addiction
$19,000 to Essentia Health for a new Integrative Nurse Training Pilot Project designed to promote and assess the use of integrative therapies such as aromatherapy, healing touch, guided imagery and acupressure
From the Van Gorden New Initiatives Polinsky Fund
$265,000 to Miller-Dwan Rehabilitation Services for a new patient gait and balance program, including the Zero G dynamic body weight support system that will allow patients to safely relearn walking skills
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Van Gorden Outreach Fund
$13,800 to Saint Ann’s Residence to partially renovate space for greater patient accessibility and the addition of computer technology
$4,000 to Islands of Brilliance to provide summer workshop experiences for children on the autism spectrum
$3,000 to the Think First Collaborative for head and neck injury prevention education for youth
$3,500 per year for three years to the Minnesota Ballet to fund creative dance for children with physical challenges
$24,997 to NorthLakes Community Clinic for an occupational therapy lending closet
$15,000 to the Essentia Health Fitness & Therapy Center for accessible exercise and therapy equipment for the Esko satellite clinic
$9,650 to Essentia Health’s Stroke Care Committee for a Life after Stroke Conference
$10,000 to Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Hospital Superior Rehabilitation to address pediatric waiting space design needs
$15,000 per year for three years to Courage Kenny Northland’s Great Lake Mono-Ski Madness, a three-day adaptive skiing workshop for people with disabilities
$13,500 to the Essentia Health Duluth Clinic to study the implications of treatment on spine pain
$4,350 to the Essentia Health Therapy Center to initiate a medical screening course designed to provide physical and occupational therapists with in-depth screening examination training
$4,300 to the Essentia Health Therapy Center for a training course designed to teach swallowing assessment techniques to regional speech-language therapists
$10,000 per year for three years to the Duluth YMCA for True North Adaptive Yoga, a yoga program especially suited to people with disabilities
From the Sara Young Fund
$7,000 to the Essentia Health Therapy Center for clinician training in orthopedic swelling
From the Albert Gonska Fund
$13,515 to Essentia Health for pediatric sensory integration programming
Other
$37,000 to the University of Minnesota, Duluth Medical School for the purchase of ultrasound training equipment
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Innovations Fund
$38,715 to Essentia Institute of Rural Health to develop and study Healing Touch, a non-pharmacologic treatment option to improve comfort and reduce pain for patients undergoing physical rehabilitation.
$10,000 to the YMCA Little Treasures Early Childhood Center to implement Circle of Security, a program designed to improve mental wellness.
$25,781, to the University of Minnesota, Duluth to develop a wireless solution to prevent pressure ulcer in wheel chair users.
$25,000 to Life House to provide mental health services to homeless and street-engaged youth.
$5,000 to Priceless4Purpose/The Steve Bartlett Cancer Nonprofit Organization to provide retreat time for Minnesota adults diagnosed and undergoing active cancer treatment.
$2,000 to the Damiano Center to survey guests and help determine program offerings and health-related projects.
$15,000 to the LSS Teen Clinic is to address the medical needs of at-risk, street and homeless youth.
$27,000 to the Northland Foundation Thrive Initiative to develop a community-wide intervention to prevent and reduce perinatal mood and/or anxiety disorders in mothers, therefore improving infant social emotional development.
$25,000 to the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) to provide therapeutic services and prevention education to victims of sexual assault and trafficking.
$4500 to the Essentia Health Rehabilitation Continuing Education Committee for complex foot, ankle and gait rehabilitation training to help East Region clinicians more fully address the needs of patients with foot and ankle disorders.
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Van Gorden New Initiatives Outreach Fund
$5,000 to Safe Kids of NorthEast Minnesota to reduce incidences of childhood injury.
$3,500 to the Minnesota Ballet to implement ballet education for youth with physical and developmental challenges.
$24,000 to the Scottish Rite to implement programming that will assist children with autism, and their families, to expand their social communication connections.
$24,000 to Lighthouse for the Blind to implement rehabilitation services for seniors with vision loss.
$16,651 to Essentia Health’s Survivorship Training and Rehab program to train an unlimited number of practitioners in the provision of oncology rehabilitation services for cancer survivors.
$31,331 to the College of St. Scholastica to purchase equipment and enhance the range of rehabilitation services offered to patients/clients by student therapists.
$7,000 to True North Adaptive Yoga, programming that provides opportunities for people with disabilities to receive a higher level of instruction of mind/body wellness practices.
$10,000 to Courage Kenny – Duluth for The Great Lake Mono-Ski Madness, an opportunity for people with physical disabilities to receive a higher level of mono-skiing and adaptive skiing instruction.
From the Miller-Dwan Foundation Van Gorden New Initiatives Polinsky Fund
$30,563 to Essentia Health Behavioral Health to improving autism evaluation services in the Miller-Dwan Foundation region.
$31,871 to Essentia Health for research that measures how positive and adverse childhood events influence health outcomes.
From the Albert J. Gonska Memorial Fund
$4,000 to the Lake Superior Medical Society Alliance for the 2017 Health Fair for third and fourth graders from throughout Duluth and the surrounding area. Health Fair activities supplement and expand on academic education.
From the Sara M Young Education Fund
$8,200 to the Essentia Health Therapy Center for training to help East Region rehabilitation clinicians more fully understand address the growing population of patients with neck, voice and swallowing disorders.