The growing opioid epidemic continues to devastate many families each day in the Commonwealth. The following programs seek to assist those struggling with addiction.
The Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital seeks to better engage with individuals struggling with addiction and complex health conditions who are not well connected to health care services. The Kraft Center was established in 2012 following a generous gift from Robert Kraft and the Kraft Family Foundation to expand access to high quality, cost effective health care for disadvantaged populations. CareZone, a mobile van, which is not connected with NEW Health, is being funded by the Kraft Center and brings collaborators from GE Foundation, Ford Motor Company, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and the Boston Public Health Commission’s harm reduction and needle exchange site, AHOPE. The goal of the CareZone program is to increase access to addiction and health care services, engage individuals in recovery, and connect them with long-term, community based care.
NEW Health was awarded a grant from the GE Foundation, SUSTAIN Communities Program. The overarching goals of the SUSTAIN grants are to support and increase in access to care and to support development of recovery-informed environments for patients with substance abuse disorders. SUSTAIN participants have access to a variety of training and technical assistance provided by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers physician peer mentors, a risk rounds team development specialist from Partners Healthcare, and Project ECHO, a virtual telemonitoring model supported by Boston Medical Center. Boston Medical Center has been a partner with NEW Health in addiction treatment since NEW Health opened its new site in the public housing development at 15 Tufts Street in Charlestown.
Through state funds secured by Representative Aaron Michlewitz, NEW Health will fight addiction problems in the North End through its partnership with community programs like North End Against Drugs and the Eliot School through outreach and health education.
