Cary and Janet Brick Riverside Foundation Grant Supports River Hospital Program

Award Aids PTS Program for Servicemembers, Veterans, and First Responders

     ALEXANDRIA BAY — The Cary and Janet Brick Riverside Foundation, a Northern New York Community Foundation affiliate, has provided a grant to River Hospital to support its Post-Traumatic Stress Services program.

     A $1,000 grant was recently awarded to assist current servicemembers and military veterans, as well as those who serve their communities as first responders with Post-Traumatic Stress treatment.

     The hospital’s Post-Traumatic Stress Services, “works closely with our military members, veterans, and first responders to help heal invisible wounds through innovative care and treatment in their own back yard.”

     “Our Foundation is honored to support institutions and programs that aid our military heroes and first-responders who greatly benefit from this critical program. We are pleased to offer this grant to River Hospital, which continues to share our values,” Mr. and Mrs. Brick said in making the award. “River Hospital’s medical professionals excel in treating patients with compassion and dignity, as well as comfort when it is needed the most.”

     River Hospital’s Post-Traumatic Stress Services provides outpatient behavioral health services for active duty military personnel stationed at Fort Drum who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS).

     The program focuses on building coping skills and supports within the community while keeping military members close to home while they are healing and learning to cope, providing education and support to soldiers who have been impacted by combat and other non-combat related traumatic experiences.

     Through the establishment of this specialized program, the hospital had the professional staff necessary to make behavioral health services available to civilian members of the surrounding communities. Treatment for trauma and stressor-related disorders, including PTS, is also provided for several high-risk occupations, including law enforcement and first-responder professions.

    Established in 2017, the Brick Riverside Foundation is a geographic-specific charitable fund that provides support for St. Lawrence River-area programs and institutions to enhance the quality of life in the Thousand Islands region. It is designed to have broad impact in perpetuity.

    The Brick Riverside Foundation gift to support hospital services is the latest from a Northern New York Community Foundation-affiliated fund.

    The Bricks are active supporters of Clayton and the River community. Mr. Brick served as a fire commissioner and Mrs. Brick was Clayton Town and Village justice. In 2023, the Brick Riverside Foundation awarded a grant to help strengthen River Hospital’s emergency department, and in 2021, a Brick Riverside Foundation grant helped Clayton celebrate its 150th anniversary.

     The component fund is a great example of a Community Foundation affiliate continuing a more than 95-year record of helping Northern New York strengthen the quality of life for generations to come.

About the Northern New York Community Foundation

     Since 1929, the Northern New York Community Foundation has invested in improving and enriching the quality of life for all in communities across Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.

     Through partnerships with businesses and organizations, charitable foundations, and generous families and individual donors, the Community Foundation awards grants and scholarships from an endowment and collection of funds that benefit the region. Its commitment to donors helps individuals achieve their charitable objectives now and for generations to come by preserving and honoring legacies of community philanthropy while inspiring others.

     The Community Foundation is a resource for local charitable organizations, donors, professional advisors and nonprofit organizations. It also works to bring people together at its permanent home in the Northern New York Philanthropy Center to discuss challenges our communities face and find creative solutions that strengthen the region and make it a great place to live, work, and play.