Evansville, Ind. (WEHT) – Habitat for Humanity in Evansville is partnering with local universities to provide funding for new homes as part of the Building Homes and Healthy program.
Deaconess, Indiana University School of Medicine and Southern Indiana University are working together on a project to build three new homes.
These schools want to help past, present and future healthcare professionals secure quality, affordable housing.
“When I found out that the deaconess was my sponsor, I was very, very shocked. You know I didn’t expect that,” explains home recipient Briasha Mansfield. “I thought it was going to be someone else. But knowing it was Deaconess and knowing that I used to work for a Deaconess. It was such a shock. It was a real blessing from USI, Health School and everything. It was really shocking excited.”
“But what’s really exciting about this program is that we’re involving these future healthcare professionals in actually building homes,” said Beth Folz, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Evansville. “So they’re going to be reaching out to people that they might not be walking around or having a chance to meet, you know their professional training. But they’re learning about their future patients, how they interact with them, what kind of challenges people face, things like that .”
They hope this level of participation will encourage more healthcare professionals to come to the tri-state, Folz said.
