Serving our Neighbors in Their Communities

Abe Feingold, Psy.D., associate program director, the Wellness Community, and Andrea Williams, BIDMC's cancer patient navigator, co-facilitate a support group for cancer patients at Dimock Community Health Center.

When Ruth Ellen Fitch joined Dimock Community Health Center as its new executive director last August, one of the first things she noticed was a lack of meaningful cancer support programs for the center’s patients of color. So one of Fitch’s first efforts in her new role was to champion the launching of a chapter of the Wellness Community at the center, in partnership with BIDMC and the Wellness Community of Greater Boston, to support the needs of multicultural patients with cancer. The support group, found in cities nationwide, provides cancer patients with diverse programming and counseling.

“The Wellness Community is such a marvelous program that I felt it had to be made a priority,” says Fitch. “The strength this program lends to its participants is invaluable, and our community will benefit from a sustainable support system for people of different backgrounds to come together and share their feelings, and stories, and provide comfort to one another.”

This is just one of many ways BIDMC’s seven community health center partners, serving more than 72,000 patients across eastern Massachusetts, are playing an integral role in helping the medical center care for neighborhood residents. The centers continue to develop new programs through the Community Care Alliance (CCA), formed in 1997 to provide high quality, cost-effective health care to residents of neighborhood communities. CCA members are Bowdoin Street Health Center, Dimock Community Health Center, Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center (Allston and Waltham sites), Fenway Community Health, Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center, South Cove Community Health Center and Outer Cape Health Services.

In some cases, the specific health care needs of local residents have driven changes at the community health centers. South Cove Community Health Center expanded its mammography screening program to address a growing concern about adequate screening among Asian women. With an estimated 17,000 patients, and more than 100,000 patient visits annually, South Cove increased mammography screening availability by installing on-site equipment. The move enabled South Cove to screen 1,700 women this year alone — an eightfold increase over last year — and to diagnose nine cases of advanced breast cancer.

Some community health centers have introduced new programs to help fill in the healthcare gaps for local communities. Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center, based in Allston, opened a satellite site located at 564 Main Street in Waltham to better serve a growing patient base following the 2003 closing of Waltham Hospital.

“We are delighted to bring affordable, culturally competent and comprehensive medical services to the Waltham community,” says Executive Director Kathleen Phenix.

To learn more about the newest programs at BIDMC’s affiliated community health centers, see http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu/CCA.

- Kathleen Cosgrove


Boston Red Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera recently greeted families at Joseph Smith.