Dear Friends,
On September 16th, the Mass General Trustee Committee on Community Health voted to approve the
2019 MGH Community Health Needs Assessment
(CHNA). Hospitals are required to conduct these assessments every three years, and while this may sound routine, this year’s process was anything but.
Our 2019 CHNA is the product of two major collaboratives. In Boston, the teaching hospitals joined with the Boston Public Health Commission and others to conduct the first-ever collaborative assessment. In North Suffolk
—
Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop—city and town leaders,
health care providers and community-based organizations
did the same. The goal is greater impact.
Communities told us loud and clear what is important to them, and this is the first time that the CHNA has prioritized social determinants as leading health concerns. The top three priorities shared between Boston and North Suffolk are:
- Safe, affordable and stable housing.
- Economic and financial stability and mobility.
- Behavioral health, including substance use disorders (SUDs).
Boston added
Access to health, social, and child care services
to the list. And, our board approved the addition of four ongoing Mass General priorities
—c
ommunity/intimate partner violence and safety; obesity and food insecurity; elder/aging health issues
;
and
,
chronic disease with cancer and diabetes focus
.
The board committee agreed that housing and economic mobility are important issues but wondered about the role of a health care institution. Ultimately, they recognized that health is directly linked to social determinants like housing and economic stability. And, they concluded that while health care cannot “own” these issues, we need to be a key player as a provider, employer and anchor institution.
The next step, where we are now deeply engaged, is to develop Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) with strategies, objectives and measurable goals, and the board must approve the MGH plan before February 15, 2020.
Stay tuned—there is lots of work ahead!
Best,
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Joan Quinlan, MPA
Vice President for Community Health
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Leslie Aldrich, MPH
Executive Director, CCHI
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PS:
A big shout out to our own
Danelle Marable
who co-led the North Suffolk assessment (learn more in this new
video
).
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Community Health Needs Assessments
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Download the full
Mass General
,
Boston
and
North Suffolk
Community Health Needs Assessment Reports
by clicking on the photos below.
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Standing Up for Immigrants: An Interview with
Fiona Danaher, MD
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Dr. Danaher has been particularly outspoken about the plight of immigrant children and their families who have suffered under the current administration’s policies—from family separations at the border to the sudden decision to end medical deferred action.
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Learn more about community health at Mass General by visiting our newly redesigned website
here
.
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Congratulations to our coalition staff members and youth groups who are working hard to build a culture of health every day in their communities!
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RevereCARES Coalition Director,
Sylvia Chiang
, was honored by the City of Revere and
Mayor Brian Arrigo
at an event celebrating
National Hispanic Heritage Month
.
Sylvia was recognized, along with other Latinx luminaries, for her leadership and significant contributions to the community around healthy eating and active living, and promoting economic mobility for Revere residents.
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The
Healthy Chelsea
Youth Food Movement
(
YFM
) youth group received the
2019 Farm to School Kale Blazer
award. This award recognizes individuals, organizations, or schools at the forefront of the farm to school movement in Massachusetts. Thanks to the YFM, students are choosing healthier food options at the high school.
YFM members
will be honored at a ceremony at the Mass State House at the end of the month.
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Sarah Coughlin
, Director of the
Charlestown Coalition
, was honored by the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park as part of September's
National Recovery Month
. She was recognized
for "working in the trenches of the opioid epidemic for the last twelve years."
Recovery Month is celebrated by all four of our community coalitions, and community events included barbecues, educational programs, and candlelight vigils.
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Executive Committee on Community Health
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Incorporating Community Health into Clinical Care in Creative & Innovative Ways
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L-R: Derri Shtasel, Alice Lorch, Shreedhar Paudel, Katrina Armstrong, Gino Chisari*, Joan Quinlan
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The
Executive Committee on Community Health
(
ECOCH
) is pleased to announce 2019 grant awards to five clinical departments that proposed creative, innovative ways of incorporating community health and health equity into their work. The awardees are:
- Gaurdia Banister, RN, PhD, NEA-BC, FAAN – Patient Care Services, to support career advancement of MGH service employees into skilled clinical roles at MGH. (*Gino Chisari, RN-BC, DNP, Project Leader)
- Alice Lorch, MD, MPH – Department of Ophthalmology, to provide diabetic retinopathy screening at MGH Chelsea.
- Sidney Jimenez, MD – Department of Medicine, to pilot a care management program for chronic pain patients at MGH Revere.
- Shreedhar Paudel, MD, MPH - Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, to enhance community access to psychiatric care in Charlestown.
- James Morrill, MD, PhD and Anne Murray-Chiriboga, MD – Department of Medicine, MGH Charlestown and NEW Health Charlestown will establish Charlestown Crossroads Resource Center, a centralized community drop-in resource center.
To learn more about ECOCH and view past grant recipients, visit our new website
here
.
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OUR MISSION
To improve the health and well-being of the diverse communities we serve.
OUR VISION
Healthy, safe and thriving communities where all people have equitable access to employment, food, education, housing and a high-quality health care system that addresses these and other social determinants of health.
Mass General Center for Community Health Improvement (CCHI)
101 Merrimac Street
Suite 620
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-726-8197
Header Photo
: Members of the Charlestown Coalition participate in the MOAR (Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery) Annual Walk for Recovery Month.
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