On February 13, 2015, SCCHC completed its UDS Report. Today, true to our mission, we are serving some 30,320 patients, doing some 176,000 patient visits in our four locations. These patients travel from 110 ZIP codes to be served in a language and culture best understood by the Asian community.  

 

Sincerely,

CEO/Executive Director
South Cove Community Health Center  

For the first community health center of its kind in the US and the rise of this movement spanning 50 years, we want to thank two trailblazers: Dr. H. Jack Geiger and Dr. Count D. Gibson Jr.. Physicians by trade but human and civil rights activists at heart, they helped launch a demonstration project that established the nation's first two community health centers. Their work made a landmark impact on the lives and health of generations of people and continues to shape health care delivery and advancement today.

 

"Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope, some because of their poverty, and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity. This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. I urge this Congress and all Americans to join with me in that effort."

-

President Lyndon B. Johnson, January 8, 1964

 

President Johnson's famous declaration of War on Poverty in his State of the Union address had a fundamental role in the history of the community health center movement. Following that address, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was signed, and an agency charged with "fighting the poverty war", the Office of Economic Opportunities, was created. OEO oversaw the many initiatives as well as programs that were introduced and implemented in response to President Johnson's legislative agenda. One of the proposals that caught the attention of the OEO was the establishment of community health centers (called neighborhood health centers then) to provide access points to health and social resources. It was submitted by one Dr. H Jack Geiger with other like-minded pioneers. Funding was approved for a two-site demonstration neighborhood health center project in 1965, one to be opened in an inner-city setting, and the other, a rural setting.

Columbia Point, Boston, MA

Working with his colleague from Tufts University, Dr. Count Gibson, the first of the two federally funded community health centers opened in Columbia Point of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood in Massachusetts in December 1965. Delta Health Center, after a lengthy period of planning and field-work, began clinical services (outreach services had started in 1966) in the rural Mound Bayou in northern Mississippi in November 1967. As a young physician, Dr. H. Jack Geiger drew from the time he had spent in South Africa during medical school, learning about community health care, as inspiration to develop a similar project in his homeland. Based on what he saw there, Dr. Geiger set out to develop a model that, in additional to medical care, focused on the social problems that undermined health in the region at the time, such as hunger and unemployment in the case of Mound Bayou. Furthermore, to include members of the community as active stakeholders and decision makers, local people joined the clinic staff and some served on the board. The success of these two health centers as pilot paved way for many others in the five decades that followed. Both Columbia Point, rededicated as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center in 2004, and the Delta Health Center are still carrying the torch to this day. This is no doubt testament to Dr. Geiger's and Dr. Gibson's life-long work and dedication to healthcare advancement and social equality. Dr. Geiger and Dr. Gibson were truly in the forefront in terms of the community health center concept development and delivery model in the US. 50 years later, the network of community health centers has expanded nationwide and to that, we owe them our gratitude

 

Over the five decades, community health centers have faced much adversity, the challenges have only strengthened their commitment to serving the underserved. Community health centers are unique in the way that each tailors its care and services to meet the distinctive needs of the people in its surrounding community. We are governed by the patients that we serve (federally qualified health centers are mandated to have a board that is comprised of majority of patients - at least 51%), and therefore, possess first-person knowledge on what's best for patients at-large and have their best interest at heart.  

 

Community health centers are good for not only the communities that they serve but also the country as a whole. Easy accessibility, affordability and the neighborhood-like feel suggest that people are more likely to seek medical help at the first sign of a health issue rather than waiting until an emergency visit or a hospital stay is needed -- significant healthcare savings are generated every time an ER visit and/or hospital utilization is spared. Delivering low cost, high quality health care is what CHCs are known for, but what is less touted about is the economic hat that they also wear. CHCs generate economic activities that benefit the entire community and beyond by creating jobs and training for local people.    

 

Today, the network of community health centers has reached over 23 million people in over 9,000 locations across America, playing a vital role in the nation's healthcare system. The customized approach to healthcare, combined with an emphasis on comprehensive preventative care are the winning formula for community health centers that collectively generates $24 billion in annual savings to the healthcare system!

 

As we take a moment to celebrate this tremendous milestone, we cannot help but do so with a fair amount of apprehension looming over us as CHCs are facing a federal funding cliff. The war waged on poverty as declared by President Johnson may have long waned but the demand for the services that community health centers provide never ceased. With the needs of the underserved communities only likely to increase, the 50th anniversary is a solemn reminder that the work needs to continue. In October 2015, funds for community health centers will end unless it is reauthorized by the Congress. Without such action, health centers would see up to 70 percent reductions in grant funding, as a result, reduction or elimination of health care access would be inevitable.

 

Community health centers serve some of the most vulnerable communities.  Therefore, we, as workers and advocates of community health centers, urge members of the Congress to continue the support of primary care and fix the cliff to avoid jeopardizing tens of thousands' access to affordable health care.   Many health centers, members of the NACHC and stakeholders will convene in nation's capital this March to mark the anniversary as well as to push for action at the Congressional level. We also urge our patients, community members, friends and partners to advocate on our behalf and those of all the community health centers across the country by joining the Campaign for America's Health Centers TODAY!   

  

Citations (listed alphabetically)

Chronicles: The Community Health Center Story http://www.chcchronicles.org/

Massachusetts League of Community Health Center (Mass League) http://www.massleague.org/CHC/History.php

National Association of Community Health Centers(NACHC)

http://chchistory.nachc.org/about-community-health-centers/history-of-americas-health-centers/

http://www.nachc.com/about-our-health-centers.cfm 

Images used for this article courtesy of Mass League and NACHC

http://www.massleague.org/CHC/History.php

http://chchistory.nachc.org/spread-the-word/  

 

2015, or year 4713 in the Lunar calendar, is the year of the Goat, or specifically, a wood goat (in Chinese element theory, each zodiac sign is associated with one of five elements: gold/metal, wood, water, fire, or earth). As we customarily do to kick off every Lunar New Year, South Cove organized and participated in festivities in the health center and our surrounding communities.

 

South Cove hosted a lion dance at its Washington Street clinic on Thursday, March 5, 2015. The Washington Street clinic had its inaugural lion dance in 2011 and has continued this tradition ever since courtesy of Principal Simon Ho of the Josiah Quincy School and its students. The school held its own annual new year celebration in the auditorium; while putting on a spectacular show for parents, teachers and local officials, Principal Ho did not forget about his neighbor and promised to spread the joy following the conclusion of its program. Around noon time, the lion made its way to the clinic to a rousing reception. The enthusiastic cheers of staff and patients alike may have disoriented the lion for it went missing shortly after the start of the procession and for a few moments, was nowhere to be seen! It was not until minutes later that we learned the lion had been "hijacked" for an impromptu photo op! For almost half an hour, the lion dance was the center of attention as they went through the entire clinic not once but twice, making sure that no hallway, departments or offices were missed. Many touched the lion for good luck and showered it with "hongbao", also known as red envelopes. Highlight of the dance came when the lion took the cabbage and crushed it on the ground as a symbol of spreading good fortune to the crowds. They also grabbed the oranges and tossed it into the air, it is believed that whoever catches the orange would have extra good luck throughout the year.    

The wonderful Lion Dance performers!

 

We thank Principal Ho for sending the lion to bless the clinic and to the students for the marvelous job they did. Now that all the evil spirits are chased away, South Cove is ready to start the Goat year anew and spread good health to all!

 

Besides the in-house celebration, South Cove also participated in BIDMC's Lunar New Year celebration, which took place on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at the Sherman Auditorium. South Cove's Eugene Welch, Eric Tiberi and Board President April Tang were among the many guests and BIDMC staff that packed the auditorium. It marked the 6th consecutive year that the hospital rang in the new year with a lion dance and performances paying homage to the Asian culture. South Cove is glad to have been in attendance every year to support our partner hospital.  

 

Moreover, South Cove was the major sponsor of two signature Lunar New Year events in town. On Sunday, March 1, 2015, festivities took center stage in Boston's Chinatown with the annual Lion Dance Parade and in Quincy, at QARI's 27th Lunar New Year Festival in North Quincy High School.    

 

The annual Lion Dance Parade, organized and hosted by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England, consistently draws crowds from Boston and beyond every year to take part in the celebration. Featuring Lion Dancers from eight different martial arts and Kung-Fu academies to ring in the Year of the Goat, the organizers pulled out all stops to put on a spectacular lion dance treat for all! Performing on the main stage and then parading spiritedly through the closed-off streets, the lion dancers went from business to business to give their good luck blessing as well as to ward off all evil spirits. The parade ended in the midst of the sounds of the firecrackers and streets covered in cabbages for good luck.

 

Across town, the 27th Quincy Lunar New Year celebration, organized by the Quincy Asian Resources, Inc. with South Cove Community Health Center being the Presenting Sponsor, was also underway. The North Quincy High School gymnasium was decorated with goat paintings and a huge banner hanging in the backdrop covering almost an entire wall. The indoor celebration featured lion dance (of course!), folk dance, martial art demonstration and arts & crafts for kids.  Many organizations in and around Quincy also participated by hosting informational booths. For foodies drawn to Asian delicacies, they certainly were not disappointed after paying a visit to the make-shift food court in the school cafeteria. The programming had something for everyone and every age group to ensure a great time for the entire family!

 

South Cove COO, Eric Tiberi, speaks at the Quincy Lunar New Year Festival

The Lunar New Year is the most widely celebrated Asian holiday around the globe and has an appeal that transcends nationality and ethnicity. As evident in both the Chinatown and Quincy events, the festivals were attended by not only Asians but people of other cultural backgrounds. South Cove is honored to have been a supporter and participant at the Lunar New Year celebrations for years. It is great time for families and communities; furthermore, it is our tradition and heritage that we are happy to carry on and see it flourish.

 

Asians are the fastest growing racial group according to the US Census Bureau in a report released in March 2012 where it analyzed the 2000 and 2010 census figures. However, this growth does not translate proportionately to the political arena were Asian Americans are under-represented in higher offices and under-courted by candidates of either parties compared to other minority groups.  

 

"Asian Americans should no longer be an afterthought in our political process... most Asian Americans have yet-to-be contacted by either political party. The polling results found that 66 percent of Asian Americans haven't heard from Democrats and 74 percent have not heard from Republicans,"  said Mee Moua, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC after the release of their polling results in early October 2014 on the then upcoming midterm elections.

 

This largely untapped group of voters could be the potential margin of victory for candidates in close races as the "Asian American voters remain mostly undecided," said Christine Chen, Executive Director of APIAVote.

 

Serving the Asian American community and realizing that they deserve to have a louder voice and to be engaged by both sides of the aisles, South Cove has made one of its social responsibilities to do what it can to effect a positive change and raise the profile of Asian American voters.  

 

Thanks to funds made available by the Coulter Foundation, South Cove and QARI (Quincy Asian Resources, Inc.) were able to establish a joint venture on this endeavor: campaigning for "Get Out the Vote."   Historically, Asian American voter turnout tends to be among the lowest of all racial groups. A 2014 analysis by the Pew Research Center backs that claim, finding that only "three-in-ten Asian-American eligible voters have cast ballots in midterm elections since 1998, a much lower turnout rate than that of whites and blacks." This is why a grassroots campaign like GOTV is so important.

 

South Cove first teamed up with QARI in 2012 on this campaign. The campaign successfully signed up thousands of Asian American voters by deploying community volunteers to help with registration. Volunteers also tried to educate eligible voters on their voting rights and the kind of impact it can have if everyone did his/her civic duty.

 

For the 2014 midterm and gubernatorial election, South Cove and QARI joined forces again to send out 8,000 postcards to registered Asian American voters reminding them to vote.

 

The goal of the campaign is two-fold: one, to register voters and second, to engage youths and impart on them the importance of having a political voice so that they are not only registered but turnout for all elections and cast their ballots.  

 

We are still awaiting data on Asian voter turnout for the 2014 midterms for analysis. We hope that our work has yielded positive results. In the meantime, just because the election is over, it does not mean that we are taking a hiatus; we will continue the outreach effort with QARI and other community agencies as necessary to raise awareness and see it through until the work bears fruit.     

 

South Cove's work on the GOTV campaign is nonpartisan; we do not tell people for whom to vote, we simply aim to register more voters to vote and encourage them to have a voice, whatever their voice may be.

 

We would like to use this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to the Coulter Foundation and AAPCHO for tirelessly advocating for and on behalf of all Asian Americans.

 

A note from Eugene Welch on voting:

As I sit in my office, and look out this February onto the 90+ inches of snow on the streets of Boston, I dream of spring and all the work we have to do. One of the items we should remember to talk about is voter registration, which should be done all year long, not just September, October, and November. Let's try to be proactive in inquiring if our patients are registered voters or if they would like to become registered voters.

Voting is power, be part of the decision making.

South Cove is making strides in the IT front with patient portal and digital dental x-ray.

 

Patient Portal Up and Running

South Cove Community Health Center has implemented the online patient portal available on the South Cove website (www.scchc.org). With the portal, any South Cove patient can create an account, login, and have access to the following parts of their medical record:

-          Personal Health Record

-          Medical History

-          Medication Summary

-          Visit Summary

-          Visit History

-          Send non-emergency­ messages to your PCP

-          Receive

reminders for upcoming appointments

 

So far, South Cove staff members have enrolled over 5,200

patients into the online portal, and are working at enrolling many more. To sign up, just ask South Cove front desk staff to enable you at your next appointment. All you need to do is give them your email address, and you will receive an email in 20 minutes walking you through the process of signing up including choosing a password, and creating a security question.

 

Disclaimer: use of the messaging feature in the portal is for non-emergency contact only.

 

Dental X-Ray Goes Digital!

We are delighted, as are our patients and dental staff, that all X-rays in the Dental Department are now digital! The many advantages of a digital x-ray include time efficiency and money-saving through bypassing film processing, as well as the ability to preview images, digitally transfer and enhance them as appropriate. For patients, it also means less radiation.

 

"This is a great achievement," said Eugene Welch.  It is also a significant step as it is the first stage of transitioning the Dental Department to the electronic medical record system and retiring the last of the department's paper charts. This is the final piece that completes South Cove's big EMR picture, a journey that we embarked on more than six years ago. We are excited at the prospect of bringing Dental up to speed with the rest of the clinic!

 

South Cove WIC Website Launched!

We are pleased to share the exciting news that the South Cove WIC program website has launched!  

 

South Cove WIC program first tested the social media water in October 2013 with the launch of the program's Facebook page. Despite the popularity of Facebook, the response was lackluster. WIC Director Zhanglin Kong attributed it to most of the clients being new immigrants and therefore were not as familiar with Facebook, which may be less popular in non-English-speaking countries. Undeterred, Kong set out to find another option to keep clients informed via social media and stumbled upon a real-time chat app that has been wildly popular in China: WeChat in Chinese! The South Cove WIC WeChat app was launched in December 2014 to better keep South Cove WIC and its clients connected. The app proved to be quite useful in January and February as a medium to inform clients of South Cove WIC program delays and/or closures due to inclement weather.  

 

With the latest addition of a South Cove WIC website, Kong aims to actively engage more existing clients and to outreach to potential clients who may be interested in the South Cove WIC services and support. Even for non-qualifying individuals or households, Kong hopes to provide helpful resources to all women, infants and children!    

 

Visit the South Cove WIC website for program information, events and promotions. Also available on the website are useful nutritional information, healthy recipes and breast feeding support & tips!

 

Website: http://www.southcovewic.org 

    

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SouthCoveWicProgram 

   

WeChat in Chinese: http://weixin.qq.com and search WICsouthcove to find us!

 

WIC Director and Board Member Participate in TransformAsians Diabetes Forum

South Cove's WIC Director and Registered Dietitian Zhanglin Kong and Board Member Mai Du served as panelists in a seminar presented by the Asian Women for Health and the American Diabetes Association titled "TransformAsians: Controlling and Preventing Diabetes," held on Saturday, January 10, 2015.  Participants learned about the disease including why Asians were at a higher risk for Type II diabetes than Caucasians and how to prevent, manage and control it.

WIC Director Kong

 

For her part, Kong focused on women with gestational diabetes (GDM). Kong recommends that they breastfeed as much and for as long as possible, up to one year exclusively if feasible. This would not only decrease the glucose level during postpartum, but also reduce the moms' and babies' risk for developing Type II diabetes later on in life. In addition, she covered the diet and exercise principles for women with GDM, and highlighted the nutritional and breastfeeding services provided at South Cove WIC.

 

Board member Mai Du, representing the Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy as the Sifu (master/teacher), sat on the panel as well as conducted a Tai Chi workshop. As a panelist, Sifu Mai Du shared information about the pilot Kung-Fu program, the Wah Lum Warrior Wellness.  It is a preventative strategy to promote exercise, fitness, and health consciousness in Asian American youth with low-to-high risk for diabetes and obesity. The program, in collaboration with a local K-8 school Health Office, engages students not only in rigorous and fun martial art training to achieve fitness, but also helps build self-confidence, learn respect, and embrace a familiar culture that affirms their Asian American identity. 

Sifu Mai Du on the panel and in the Tai Chi workshop

 

The interactive workshop engaged participants in low impact physical exercises and Qigong breathing activities.  The guided movements were designed to teach participants to loosen their joints and stretch their muscles, thereby improving the circulation of blood, the Qi (the life energy) and fluids through the meridians and sinews to ultimately experience physical & mental strength and balance. Sifu Mai Du also stressed the importance of staying active through physical exercises as one of the best ways to combat and prevent diabetes. The simple exercises that she taught can be easily incorporated into daily routines to help the body build physical fitness and the mind gain a sense of balance. 

 

South Cove Teaming Up with MBCC to Raise Awareness

Raising awareness on breast cancer and outreaching to targeted populations on the importance of having a mammogram have been a cause of the health center ever since the inception of our mammography unit more than 10 years ago. South Cove has also lent its support to the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition in the past several years to reach out to wider audiences. This year we are stepping up the partnership by hosting the MBCC's "Let's Talk Prevention: Reducing Toxic Exposure" Educational Tour at both of our Quincy clinics. The tour will be on display at the 435 Hancock Street clinic for the month of March and at the 88 Holmes Street clinic in April for a month. The educational program is "designed to facilitate discussions between health professionals and patients about environmental exposures and chemicals of concern."   To tailor the tour to South Cove's patient base, some materials are available in both English and Chinese. Work is underway to have all materials translated into Chinese and other Asian languages.  

 

Celebrate Dragon Boat Racing, Join Team Stat Dragons 2015!

What a winter season this has been: the second coldest February and the second most snowfall of all-time in Boston are the one-two punch that has all of us screaming: enough is enough! The good news is we are finally out of the tundra (knock on wood)! It is time to be on the Charles water again and gear up for the 36th Boston Dragon Boat Festival. The festival is taking place on Sunday, June 14, 2015. We are calling all South Cove dragon boat enthusiasts to join Team Stat Dragons 2015! Experience not required but preferred! 

 

Interested individuals please contact Julie via email at jchou@scchc.org.

         

 

640 Washington Street, Brighton, MA 02135