Special Projects Grant Recipients
In January 2009, the League announced the Community Health Center Special Projects Grant for primary care providers. The Community Health Center Special Projects Grant was developed to enhance retention of providers at Massachusetts community health centers through the support of funded projects, mini fellowships, and international experiences that match the clinical or career interest of selected providers and the programmatic needs of the health center. We are happy to announce that the recipients of the 2012-2013 grant awards will assist eleven community health centers in offering paid protected time to the following primary care providers to undertake projects and mini fellowships:
Marie Mechel, PA
Baystate Mason Square Neighborhood Health Center
Q2A - Cue to Action!!
This project, Cue to Action or "Q2A" will expand on the modality of Shared Medical Appointments (SMA), while specifically targeting patients who are on an anti-hypertension regiment to help improve life style changes. This project will help these patients by giving them an outlet to share their personal stories as well as work on their self-empowerment to help them manage their chronic disease.
Colleen Anderson, DDS
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Quality Improvement in Oral Health for Homeless Patients Fellowship
This is a mini fellowship in community health management will have a focus on dental care for homeless individuals and will help increase the clinician's knowledge of multiple areas of clinic management such as staffing, funding, patient scheduling and retention.
Joseph Panerio-Langer, MD
Brockton Neighborhood Health Center
Adult Primary Care Practice Redesign Initiative
The project will redesign the adult medicine department by forming three smaller teams with leaders that will each report to the medical director regarding workflow, policy concerns and patient issues.
Timothy Eddy, DO
Community Health Connections, Inc.
Diabetes Group Visits
Development of a curriculum for diabetes group visits to be piloted in 2013. The 6-8 week curriculum will help patients understand how lifestyle changes and physical activity can improve their health.
Kathleen Floyd, FNP
Community Health Programs, Inc.
CHP on Wheels: Connecting Rural Residents to Health Care
The Program will bring together all facets of the organization to plan and launch a mobile medical unit that will provide care to underserved residents in rural areas of Berkshire County.
Julie Crosson, MD
Dorchester House Multi-Service Center
Nurse Practitioner Professional Development Curriculum Program (NPPDCP)
The project will create a professional development curriculum for nurse practitioners. The curriculum will help Dorchester House build a team of NPs that will help support primary care as well as create greater continuity of care for their patients.
Robert P. Marlin, MD, PhD
East Cambridge Health Center (CHA)
Creating a Community-Based PCMH for Political Violence Survivors
Expand PCMH model to the community to improve care for the growing political violence survivors' population and link EMR to social and community based organizations to better serve this population.
Frank Schiano, MD
Fenway Community Health Center
Improving Oral Health Outcomes for LGBT and HIV Populations
A mini fellowship to provide increased training to help improve the lead clinician's ability to manage additional staff and dental residents and support the lead clinician's certificate from the Pathway's Program, funded by HRSA.
Evan Teplow, MD
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center
Healthy Weight Clinic Expansion Project
The project entails expanding and rolling out the Healthy Weight Clinic (HWC); improving the infrastructure of the organizational approach and PCMH; and to incorporate obesity management to all 4 of GLFHC's clinical sites.
Alison Marshall, RN, MSN, FNP-C
South Boston Community Health Center
SBCHC Medical Home Pilot Project
Support the Center in developing a working medical home. The lead clinician will provide staff training and enact quality improvement measures of the course of the grant cycle to encompass all of SBCHC's needs.
Liliana Rosselli-Risal, MD
Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center
Comunidad en Accion
Promote the health of the Center's Latino population in the areas of fitness, nutrition and healthy weight.