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North Shore/Cape Ann Community Health Network Awards Partners Home Care $3500
(WALTHAM, MA, October 9, 2009) Partners Home Care has received a $3,500 grant from the North Shore/Cape Ann Community Health Network to support its longtime commitment to provide access to healthcare for underserved individuals in Salem and Beverly. The program, “Improving Access to Primary Care for the Homeless,” addresses the chronic and pervasive health issues faced by North Shore residents who are homeless or uninsured.
Funding from this grant will support health clinics held at the Salem Mission in Salem and the River House Shelter in Beverly to provide onsite healthcare for individuals in need. Partners Home Care has been providing this outreach at the Salem Mission since 1994 and at the River House since 2005.
“When people are managing multiple stressors such as a loss of job or home, health care often falls to the bottom of the list of priorities,” said Susan Beausoliel, vice president for Home Care Services, Partners Home Care. “Through our partnership with River House and the Salem Mission, we are able to reach people directly, help steer them to appropriate health services and often intervene before a small problem becomes a major one.”
According to the North Shore HOME Consortium, the number of homeless individuals on the North Shore will increase thirty-one percent by the year 2010. “This support from the North Shore/Cape Ann Community Health Network strengthens our ability to meet the growing demand for health care among this population,” said Susan. The support will expand the clinics’ comprehensive care to address the unique health care needs of this population.
Through the outreach provided by these free health clinics, residents gain access to a continuity of care, from physical and mental assessments, to connections to health insurance and primary care physicians. With fluctuating life situations, establishing a medical history can be difficult to establish especially when lacking a consistent relationship a health care provider. By establishing trust with staff at the health clinic, they obtain a comprehensive medical history which, if needed, can lead to faster and more effective treatment by other practitioners. The clinic also offers evaluations, medications, and treatments.
About Partners Home Care
Partners Home Care (PHC) is one of the region’s largest non-profit home health care providers, offering a full array of home health care, hospice and private care services in homes, assisted living communities, and nursing homes throughout Eastern Massachusetts. The organization is committed to delivering the highest quality services available at home – where the comfort and security of familiar surroundings greatly enhance quality of life. The North Branch of Partners Home Care, formerly the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Salem, serves communities north of Boston including Beverly, Danvers, Gloucester, Haverhill, Lynn, Newbury, Peabody, and Salem. Annually, PHC’s North Branch provides more than 131,000 home care visits to an estimated 7,300 patients. For more information go to www.partners.homecare.org .
About North Shore/Cape Ann Community Health Network
The North Shore/Cape Ann Community Health Network is a group of community-based organizations that work together in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to promote awareness, access and action in support of North Shore health priorities. Its mission is to enable health improvement through community-based, public and private collaborations. The Network has been a generous supporter of the North Branch of Partners Home Care since 2006, and in particular, the 2009 grant helped to fund an increase in weekly hours at the River House Shelter for the Community Outreach Nurse provided by Partners Home Care.
About Salem Mission
The Salem Mission serves homeless men and women from North Shore communities 365 days a year with a twenty-four-hour residential care program, is equipped with thirty-four beds and can accommodate fifty-two people during the winter months.
About River House Shelter
The River House Shelter serves single adult males who are chronically homeless with severe mental illness. Over the course of a year, beds are provided to well over one-hundred men, primarily between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four. Nearly eighty percent of the men are very low income, and over fifty percent of the residents have physical, mental or substance abuse issues.
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