In the Community

In the Community2022-09-12T11:05:42-04:00

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, from 3 pm – 6 pm
  • 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, from 3 pm – 6 pm
  • Held on the patio at the corner of Providence and Hay Street

If you have questions about the Farmers Markets, please contact:
Tara
Ph: 401-615-2800 (ext. 4995)  |  Email: TaraC@thundermisthealth.org

ThunderKids Wellness Program

The ThunderKids Wellness Program in Woonsocket started when Thundermist was awarded a CDC grant based on a grant proposal for a treatment program addressing adolescent children who are overweight and are considered clinically obese. The program began in September 2010 and even though the funding expired, Thundermist continues to run this important program.

The Program targets children 11 – 13 years old through an intensive, therapeutic, multi-specialty intervention that runs throughout the entire school year.

The components of the program are:

  • Physical activity twice a week for an hour and a half each day at the Woonsocket YMCA
  • 30 minutes of group nutrition and health and wellness lectures per week
  • One-on-one nutrition counseling per month

One on one medical examinations per month

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 which travels to 20 RI communities. The program targets 15,000 children aged 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. The Molar Express was an NBC 10 and Citizens Bank Champions in Action.

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 Zone

West Warwick Health Equity Zone Annual Report: 2016 / 17

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