By Tim Bonfield
The Cincinnati Enquirer

More than $1.5 million in grants will go to 15 area health organizations to support mental health, dental care, medical care for the needy and other services.

The grants were the latest to be awarded by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, a charity that has provided $9 million to $13 million a year to organizations in 20 regional counties since being launched nearly six years ago.

The new grants include:

• $210,000 to the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati to expand basic medical care to more than 1,000 people with severe mental illness who are members of the Consumer Wellness Program, a service launched in 2001. Many people with mental illness also have untreated problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure, said Susan Rivers-Payne, director of the Consumer Wellness Program.

• $300,000 to the Counseling Center to provide residential substance abuse treatment to 30 teen boys a year from Adams, Lawrence and Scioto counties.

• $268,633 to Shawnee Mental Health Center Inc. to start crisis intervention teams in Adams, Lawrence and Scioto counties that will help people with mental illnesses who face nonviolent criminal charges get into treatment programs instead of jail.

• $165,000 to Lincoln Heights Health Care Connection to purchase dental equipment for its rebuilt center.

• $150,000 to the Hearing, Speech and Deaf Center of Greater Cincinnati to coordinate services for people who have severe mental illnesses and are deaf.

• $150,000 to the Mental Health Association of the Cincinnati Area to establish an office in Butler County.

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E-mail tbonfield@enquirer.com