Skip to contents
In This Issue:
On Marathon Monday, twenty-five inner-city students in BWH's Student Success Jobs Program will root on Team Brigham from Cleveland Circle. It's their way to thank and support the 127 marathoners running under the BWH banner to raise money for the Office for Women, Family and Community Programs (OWFCP).
“Having these generous and driven people make this commitment to our team makes a huge difference,” said JudyAnn Bigby, MD, director of Community Health Programs. Since it was established in 1991, OWFCP in cooperation with BWH departments and community organizations has reached out to thousands of people in Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain and Boston's poorest neighborhoods to overcome health care disparities for underserved women and their families.
“Our mission is to reach well beyond individual patients and specific diseases to address life quality and health care issues,” Bigby said. The Student Success Jobs Program, which matches students from five Roxbury high schools with mentors and paid internships at the hospital, is just one community endeavor to inspire BWH's marathon team.
The Office for Women, Family and Community Programs provides financial assistance to low-income women diagnosed with breast cancer through the Connecting Hope, Assistance and Treatment Program (CHAT). The CHAT Program helps these women secure transportation to treatment and purchase treatment-related items including medications, breast prostheses and wigs.
Passageway offers comprehensive advocacy services and safety planning to victims of domestic violence. The program trains providers to screen for and respond to abuse as an integral part of health care provision. Last year, Passageway staff assisted 571 individuals through more than 13,300 service contacts. “We are grateful Team Brigham has enabled us to expand our services and reach more victims of violence at Faulkner Hospital and Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center,” said Tina Nappi, director of Passageway.
OWFCP is planning to unveil two new breast cancer-related initiatives this spring. “We're creating a simple card that will explain what to expect when you come in for a mammogram,” said Jennifer Allison, OWFCP assistant director. These cards, which will be available in English and eight other languages, will feature pictograms on one side and text on the other. Also, OWFCP will be recruiting and training peer educators to run community workshops for women who do not speak English on breast cancer prevention and detection.
Partners and BWH have been generous in supporting these community programs during the last 15 years, but OWFCP continually struggles to find new revenue sources to maintain its core services and add new programs.
“As a world class health care institution and individual care givers, we should support the programs that help bring BWH services into our own neighborhoods,” BWH President Gary Gottlieb said.
Team Brigham is committed to raising $400,000 this year for OWFCP. To learn more, visit http://healthcare.partners.org/teambrigham