Our CURRENT FEATURED Charity Partner

Operation House Call (OHC)

Zo Much More donates 20% of any revenue to other organizations who share our passion for ensuring meaningful opportunities (employment, social, recreational, housing etc.) are as available to individuals on the autism spectrum as they are to anyone else. We choose a different organization to feature periodically - and make the donation at the end of their featured timeframe.

We are so excited to announce that we have chosen Operation House Call (OHC), a program from the Arc of Massachusetts, to be our Featured Charity Partner for all of 2024! OHC focuses on one of the most fundamental needs of all: Healthcare

As one of our core beliefs at Zo Much More is that everyone should be enabled to speak for themselves, we have borrowed the following description from OHC’s website and collateral material:

Operation House Call (OHC) teaches young medical professionals essential skills to enhance the health care of persons with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The Arc of Massachusetts offers OHC families, parents, and individual self-advocates as educators. It is a rare and important training opportunity based on lived experience. Through OHC, medical students begin to build confidence and interest in working with individuals with I/DD, including autism, and their families.

The program has a network of over 200 volunteer families teaching over 1,200 medical professionals every year. It is regularly offered at Boston University School of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School, and Harvard Medical School, as well as the Simmons School of Health Sciences, UMASS Graduate School of Nursing, and the Yale School of Nursing.  

Research shows that 85% of doctors feel that people with disabilities have poor quality of life. Only 40% of doctors feel comfortable treating these patients because of lack of training. Much of these dire statistics are due to the fact that medical professionals currently do not receive adequate training regarding the care of patients with autism or IDD. The lack of provider education and disability awareness is one of the greatest barriers to care faced by this population. The Arc’s Operation House Call seeks to address these and other barriers to care.

OHC hit a very exciting milestone in 2023 when OHC was signed into law and funded through the Massachusetts state budget signed by Governor Maura Healy. OHC will sustain and grow its unique programming at our medical and nursing schools and begin to grow by adding dental schools, more graduate nursing schools, and other allied health professional university programs in Massachusetts.

OHC spirit bracelets can be ordered on the Shop page of our website.