Office of Community Health Programs Mission Statement
To define the role and responsibility of Tufts Medical Center in supporting and sustaining the health and well being of residents in communities that have historic or developing relationships with Tufts Medical Center.
To provide leadership for academic medical centers in the creation of a model that implements a long-term community health agenda.
About Community Health Programs
Tufts Medical Center and its Floating Hospital for Children established the Office of Community Health Programs in 1992 to respond to the challenges of an increasingly complex health care delivery environment, to meet the changing needs of Tufts Medical Center's diverse patient population and to focus on public health and disease prevention.
The Office of Community Health Programs is charged with coordinating and facilitating a range of community-oriented activities, promoting collaborative efforts, and providing technical assistance to Tufts Medical Center departments in their community health outreach efforts. In addition, the Office coordinates reporting of the Medical Center's community benefits obligations, provides funding and technical support for health education, outreach, and prevention projects at local community-based organizations and health centers, organizes community outreach participation and efforts, and seeks to improve the overall health, well-being and health knowledge of residents in the communities the hospital serves.
Office of Community Health Programs highlights include:
Asian Health Initiative: The Asian Health Initiative (AHI) identifies public health issues of particular prevalence or concern to the local Asian community and seeks to work collaboratively with local community-based organizations to help address those health issues in a culturally and linguistically appropriate setting. More about AHI programs
Dorchester Health Initiative: Tufts Medical Center has established the Dorchester Health Initiative (DHI) to address health issues disproportionately affecting residents of the various Dorchester neighborhoods by providing support for programs addressing identified priority health needs in the Dorchester community. More about the DHI
Parent to Parent: Parent to Parent (P2P) is a partnership between Tufts Medical Center and program sites in the Dorchester and Chinatown neighborhoods of Boston as well as the South Shore area, primarily Quincy. The primary goal of P2P is to reduce infant mortality and morbidity by improving access to health care and information for pregnant women and their children. More about P2P
Asthma Prevention and Management Initiative: Tufts Medical Center and the Floating Hospital for Children have launched an Asthma Prevention and Management Initiative (APMI)to reduce health disparities in the Asian community. The program works with asthmatic youth who attend the Josiah Quincy Elementary School and the Josiah Quincy Upper School, as well as patients of Tufts Medical Center's Asian Pediatric and Adolescent Clinical Services Program. Recently, APMI has included Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center and the Kwong Kow Chinese School as additional community collaborations. As part of a recent three-year grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, the initiative aims to improve the functional outcomes of school-age children with asthma and decrease overall utilization of acute care services for asthma-related problems.
For more information, contact May Chin, APMI Project Director, Phone: (617) 636-1339, Email: mchin@tuftsmedicalcenter.org.
Rice Sticks and Tea (RS&T) Asian Food Pantry: RS&T was established in 1998 to meet the needs of Asian immigrant and refugee families by providing culturally appropriate food not typically available in mainstream food pantries. In 2003, Tufts Medical Center, recognizing the need to provide healthful nutrition information as well as food supplies, began funding and assisting with the development of a nutrition education program consisting of nutrition-oriented workshops with culturally and linguistically appropriate materials to benefit RS&T clients. More about RS&T
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