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| JMSCHC turning 40! | |
In 2014, JMSCHC will celebrate 40 years of providing quality, comprehensive, coordinated care!
Founded in 1974 by a group of community activists under the leadership of Joseph M. Smith, our community health center has grown from a 2-room clinic to a full-service, freestanding health center with 5 sites located in Allston-Brighton and Waltham.
We would like to invite you to share your personal story with us about your involvement with JMSCHC, as a patient or a community member! |
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Upcoming Events | |
Boston Moves for Health
Allston-Brighton Neighborwalks
At JMSCHC in Allston
Wed. and Fri. 12 pm
National Health Center Week Celebrations:
Powering Healthier Communities
Waltham:
August 8th - 9am-12pm
Allston:
August 9th -1pm-5pm
Diabetes Day
At JMSCHC in Allston
August 14th 8am-12pm
Diabetics have the opportunity to see a
nutritionist, podiatrist,
dentist, optometrist and diabetes nurse, as needed. |
| Help us Give a Warm Welcome to Newborns | |
THE NEWBORN WELCOMING PROGRAM AT THE JOSEPH M. SMITH COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Our Newborn Welcoming program is a great help to our patients, as it provides expectant moms with resources, emotional support, educational materials, group meetings, and baby supplies.
Please help us continue to provide this benefit!
The program is in much need of the following items:
-Newborn Clothing ( 0-12 Months) - (unworn)
-Baby's toys (0-6 Months)-
-Diapers (Sizes 1-3)
-Baby Hygiene products
Drop off any donations at any of the Community Health offices in Allston or Waltham, or contact Jacqueline Caceres at (781) 693-3885 for more info.
"It's not how much we give but how much Love we put into giving." - Mother Teresa
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| A BIG "Thank You" to our supporters | |
JMSCHC received generous funding from the following:
People's Bank
Genzyme
Susan G. Komen for the
Cure MA |
| JMSCHC to Work With Catchafire! | |
We are very excited to announce that we will be collaborating with Catchafire to help our organization build capacity! Catchafire will help us to identify our needs as short-term, discrete, and individual-based projects, and then match these projects to skilled pro bono professionals. Catchafire's vision is to make it easy for every social good organization to access and effectively use pro bono as a way to build capacity within their organization, and we are thrilled to join the pro bono movement. |
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Social Media | |
Keep up with JMSCHC news everyday!
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New Pharmacy Opening in our Waltham Location! | | |
This summer JMSCHC will open a 340B pharmacy at our Waltham site to provide increased access to care and prescription medications to our uninsured and underinsured patients. The Waltham pharmacy will join the two-year old pharmacy at our Allston site in providing the continuity of care, affordability and convenience our patients need and deserve. The construction of the pharmacy, located within our Waltham health center was funded by a $40,000 grant from the Covidien NACHC (National Association of Community Health Centers) Challenge Grant Program. JMSCHC received $40,000 in matching funds from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Mount Auburn Hospital, and Harvard Business School.
With funds from the grant challenge program, we built out space in our Waltham health center for the pharmacy. The 340B pharmacy program is offered by the Federal government and provides discounts on prescription medications intended for sale to patients who cannot afford the typical high cost of medications. An example of the immense savings for patients: a bottle of insulin has a co-pay of about $85 with most insurance providers, but at our 340B pharmacy, patients can buy a month's supply of insulin, five bottles, for $10.50. Upon the opening of the new pharmacy, our Waltham patients will have increased access to prescriptions including basic antibiotics, family planning, and medication for chronic diseases in their own neighborhood, eliminating the need to travel to our Allston pharmacy. Currently, the Allston pharmacy fills 25% of the prescriptions provided by physicians at the Waltham health center. Patty Bolivar, lead pharmacist at JMSCHC, predicts that upon opening, the Waltham pharmacy will fill between 50% and 70% of prescriptions written by physicians at our Waltham center, a capture rate that is anticipated to increase as time goes on. At the Allston pharmacy, between 300 and 400 new prescriptions are filled per week. Three hundred (300) prescriptions are also refilled each week. These numbers are evidence of an important ingredient to successful care: patient compliance. Patty states that compliance has been increasing, a trend she expects to see in Waltham. JMSCHC projects that the 340B pharmacy in Waltham will serve 2,400 patients in its first year of operation and 3,100 patients by the third year of operation.
The Waltham pharmacy will be open to the public on July 16th, and will run Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We expect high volumes of prescription orders and anticipate possibly opening for weekend hours come December. The pharmacy will accept most major public and private insurances, including Medicare part D, and the State's Health Safety Net (HSN) program, which covers uninsured patients. Patients with MassHealth or Health Safety Net pay $1-$3 for their medication. JMSCHC's 340B pharmacies are the only pharmacies in Allston/Brighton and Waltham that accept the Health Safety Net, making this a vital resource for our many patients who are uninsured.
We wish to provide quality service and affordable medication to ALL of our patients, and are actively seeking resources to expand pharmacy hours.
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| Our Medical Family is Growing! | | |
JMSCHC is proud to introduce our new healthcare providers. We are excited to have these talented individuals join our medical team.
- Margaret Bacon, FNP, works full time in Waltham and speaks Spanish.
- Dr. Nicole Badie works full-time in Allston as a primary care provider and speaks Spanish.
- Joelle Chateauneuf, FNP, works in Allston.
- Dr. Julia DeJoseph works full-time as a primary care provider in Waltham where she is the Associate Medical Director. She is speaks Spanish.
- Dr. Glenn Diaz joins us with 15 years experience in primary care and speaks Spanish and Tagalog. He works with us now full-time, and is the Associate Medical Director in Allston.
- Dr. Steven Greer is a pediatrician and speaks Spanish.
- Dr. Jiani Guo will be working for us full-time as a provider in Allston and speaks Mandarin.
- Dr. Rachael Katz joins us with 10 years experience. She has an interest in complementary medicine and nutrition.
- Dr. Nancy Norman specializes in internal medicine, and works in Allston providing care to adults.
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A Momentous Visit from Senator John Kerry!
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Senator John Kerry visited the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center on May 11 to announce that Massachusetts received $33,716,628 to help fund 11 community health centers across the state through grant programs created as part of the Affordable Care Act. The funds will support renovation and construction projects that will help to create jobs, expand affordable health care, and boost the centers' ability to serve families across the state.
We are pleased to announce that JMSCHC will directly benefit from this funding, as JMSCHC was selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be awarded a $5,000,000 grant to build a new facility in Allston-Brighton. The new facility will address the increased demand for quality, affordable health services in the community. For JMSCHC, this grant provides the seed funding for an ambitious project to build a $19.1 million state-of-the-art community health center to consolidate several of the Health Center's current sites, and provide enough space for growth to meet long term community and patient needs.
In April, Senator Kerry sent a letter to the Health Resources and Services Administrator Dr. Mary K. Wakefield on behalf of the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center in support of its application for funding.
During his visit in May, he announced that the Affordable Care Act authorized these much-needed capital development funds to improve capacity to provide primary and preventive health services to medically underserved populations.
"Community health centers across Massachusetts are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people," said Sen. Kerry. "This investment will do what we worked to do in the Affordable Care Act, which is provide more services to more patients, and help provide quality, affordable service day in and day out."
In addition to expressing his support during his visit, Sen. Kerry toured the center and also delivered remarks to address the constitutionality of the health care law ahead of the Supreme Court's decision this summer.
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Nutrition Tip: Rethink Your Drink! | |
Though tasty, Smoothies or Coolattas are usually high in added sugars. Most have between 300 to 800 calories and 30 to 150 grams of sugar (that is between 7 and 37.5 teaspoons of sugar!). For example, a large Vanilla Bean Coolatta has 850 calories and 174 grams of sugar (this is equal to 43.5 teaspoons, which is more sugar than in 4 cans of Coca-Cola combined).
To avoid consuming extra hidden calories that can lead to weight gain, it is best to plan ahead before purchasing these types of drinks. Our nutritionist, Rena Oudan shares some helpful tips:
- Visit the company website and check the sugar and calorie content for your favorite cold drink.
- Purchase the smallest size.
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Joseph M. Smith 
