Vaccine Shot Inspired Historic Gift

When people sink into the throes of addiction, they often neglect other health problems too.

Thanks to a $1 million gift, women working on tackling those addictions at a new recovery center in the Hill will simultaneously receive help with those heart or liver or other health problems as well.

The $1 million gift came from philanthropist LindyLee Gold’s Amour Propre Fund. She made it to the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, the largest gift in the community health powerhouse’s 55-year history. (Read more about the gift here.)

The gift will fund the creation of a wellness center within a larger, 31,000-square-foot in-patient and outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment facility at 149 Minor St. Hill Health broke ground on the 52-bed facility in September. (Read about that here.)

Gold and Hill Health CEO Michael Taylor discussed how the gift came together as a result of an unrelated crisis — the Covid-19 pandemic — during a conversation on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”

“Every crisis presents an opportunity,” Gold said. In this case, the opportunity came when she went to Hill Health to receive her Covid-19 vaccine shot. It was her first time in the building. She was awed by all that went on there.

The pandemic also made her think about inequities in health care, and the need for systemic change.

So she teamed up with Taylor to craft a meaningful gift that would help bring systemic change — especially for women, who did have beds in the smaller precursor facility (the Grant Street Partnership which the new Minor Street center will replace.)

The two spoke about how the pandemic created a second ​“opportunity” — an explosion in reported cases and awareness of how many people struggle with substance abuse. That helped lift a stigma that sometimes prevents people from seeking help they need.

Click on the video to watch the full interview with Michael Taylor and Lindy Lee Gold on ​“Dateline New Haven.”

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