In the Community
Thundermist has a strong commitment to the communities it serves, offering services when and where they are needed.
Thundermist Grows – A Community Garden
Thundermist Grows is a multi-generational community garden and associated educational program. Thundermist Grows impacts more than 500 children, adults, and seniors each year. Thundermist Grows increases the health and well-being of our community by ensuring that families have better access to organic fruits and vegetables (which are often cost prohibitive), increases their physical activity through gardening, and increases opportunities for multi-generational exchange of skills and experiences.
Thundermist opened the community garden in May 2012, which is adjacent to the parking lot of the Cotton Shed, Thundermist’s innovative patient-centered medical home facility. The garden is home to more than 30 individual raised beds, eight of which are accessible to those in wheelchairs and other physical challenges. It also houses a shared berry and herb garden and a sitting area open to the entire Thundermist community. Gardeners are members of the community, patients, as well as Thundermist staff.
This project engages multiple community partners with the development of the garden, its build-out, and actual gardening and maintenance of the garden. To ensure that our community gardeners have the skills they need to successfully grow food, as well as to increase the amount of organic gardening in our community, Thundermist Grows conducts a community-wide education program. This program trains local community members in key organic gardening techniques.
Farmers Markets
Working in conjunction with Farm Fresh RI, Thundermist is proud to offer farmers markets in the communities of West Warwick and Woonsocket. Both markets are open to the community and accept WIC, senior coupons, and credit cards. EBT/SNAP is also accepted at a higher value than regular cash.
Woonsocket Farmers Market:
- Runs year-round, every Tuesday, 3-6 p.m.
- The winter market is held in the lobby of 450 Clinton Street, and the summer market moves to the parking lot across from Bank of America and Subway.
West Warwick Farmers Market
- Runs every Thursday, July through October, 3-6 p.m.
- Held on the patio at the corner of Providence and Hay Street
If you have questions about the Farmers Markets, please contact Tara Cimini
at 401-615-2800 (ext. 4995) or TaraC@thundermisthealth.org
The Molar Express
Dental services are brought to children through a venture named the Molar Express, presented by Ronald McDonald House Charities. The Molar Express is a 40-foot long, specially designed dental office on wheels that travels communities throughout Rhode Island. The program focuses on approximately 15,000 children age 2-18, many of whom are living in poverty or have no dental insurance through our Community Dental Program. We partnered with two other highly experienced RI health and human service providers (Comprehensive Community Action Program and East Bay Community Action Program), along with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern New England, to bring full dental services tailored for the communities the Molar Express visits.
ThunderKids Community Dental Program
The Thundermist Community Dental Program uses portable dental equipment and offers on-site services in oral examinations, preventative, hygienic and restorative services and classroom-based oral health education.
A dentist and hygienist go to schools, Head Start classrooms, and after-school programs to screen children and then refer them for treatment to the Molar Express or their dental home.
Health Equity Zones of Woonsocket and West Warwick
About the Woonsocket Health Equity Zone
The Woonsocket Health Equity Zone (HEZ) is a collaborative of community partners and residents that focus on health equity. The HEZ works toward a future Woonsocket where people are connected to each other and to community resources that reinforce health and well-being; trusting relationships built on a foundation of mutual respect, cultural sensitivity, and humility exist between residents and resources; and all individuals, families, and children live in safe, nurturing homes within communities that support healthy development. For more information, please send an email to woonsockethez@gmail.com.
About the West Warwick Health Equity Zone
The West Warwick Health Equity Zone (HEZ) was founded in 2015 and addresses health and wellness disparities in the community and builds health equity by leveraging community resources through a collective impact approach. The mission of the West Warwick HEZ is to function as a central resource for West Warwick residents, organizations, local government, and businesses to work together to create a happy, healthy, and safe community where everyone has equitable opportunities to thrive. The West Warwick HEZ values lived experience and works to uplift, and center marginalized voices. The West Warwick HEZ relies on input and guidance from its community ambassadors, residents who are active and engaged in their community and have the passion to promote equity in West Warwick. Ambassadors, who are compensated for their work with the HEZ, learn new skills to create community change and empower others. The West Warwick HEZ focuses on the following priorities and subcategories: overdose prevention and recovery, food access, healthy neighborhoods (housing and transportation), and a crosscutting pillar of focus on trauma. Learn more by visiting the WW HEZ on Facebook.