BOSTON – A new community outreach initiative spearheaded by The Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) 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 for Community Health was established in 2012 by a generous gift from Robert K. Kraft and The Kraft Family Foundation to expand access to high quality, cost effective health care for disadvantaged populations. CareZone, a mobile health van, is being funded by The Kraft Center for Community Health and brings together collaborators from GE Foundation, Ford Motor Company, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) and the Boston Public Health Commission’s harm reduction and needle exchange site, AHOPE.

This initiative, a first of its kind in New England, will focus on providing care and harm reduction services in areas known to have high rates of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses in the Greater Boston area. 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.

“Our country is experiencing an urgent crisis that needs creative and innovative approaches. My family and I want to be part of the solution and provide the hope of recovery to people who may feel unnoticed by our society and who are in need of care. That’s what this is about – meeting people where they are, offering help, and engaging them in care.”  says Robert K. Kraft, chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group. Kraft and his son, Josh Kraft, Nicholas President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston have long advocated for increasing access to care and improving the health inequality gap of disadvantage populations.

The national opioid epidemic has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives with death tolls increasing 400 percent since 2000. In Boston alone, overdose deaths have almost tripled in the last five years. While life-saving treatments for opioid use disorder are available, only five percent of people living with substance use disorders have access to the treatment they need.

“An average of six people per day are dying in Massachusetts from an opioid overdose. The fundamental cause of these deaths is the disease of addiction. Effective, lifesaving treatments are available now but there is substantial lack of access to treatment, particularly among our most vulnerable populations. There is also reluctance of many people to use traditional clinics or hospitals due to fear of stigma. That is the space we hope to fill with the CareZone program,” says Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH, executive director of The Kraft Center. “We see tremendous value in being in the community, building engagement and trust, and partnering with clinical and public health practitioners to not give up on people and offer a path to recovery.”

Launching January 9, 2018, the CareZone, staffed by BHCHP’s medical group and AHOPE’s harm reduction team, will provide on-demand, preventative care, such as screenings for tuberculosis, cancer and sexually transmitted infections, immunizations, and chronic disease management including HIV. It will also offer low-threshold treatment for substance use disorders and will offer an opportunity for individuals, many of whom are homeless, to receive overdose prevention and risk reduction counseling. Jessie Gaeta, MD, chief medical officer of BHCHP, will serve as medical director for CareZone.

“Every individual struggling with substance misuse should have equitable access to treatment,” says Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders. “The Kraft Center for Community Health has developed an innovative response for bringing treatment to people where they are, and ensuring that individuals can access help in a timely, affordable and effective way.”

As part of these efforts, The Kraft Center enlisted the assistance and advice of key community leaders, first responders and health care providers to help develop, plan and implement a cutting-edge program that would address some of the unmet health care, mental health and addiction service needs of individuals in Boston with substance use disorder. Through this work, CareZone aims to connect patients to a permanent medical home and facilitate access to critically important, consistent care.

“GE Foundation is committed to bringing innovative solutions to community health and leading on emerging issues such as the opioid crisis,” said Ann R. Klee, President, GE Foundation. “We’re proud to work with city and state partners to deliver comprehensive primary care, skilled in handling substance use disorders, directly to patients and communities that need it most.”

CareZone will broaden understanding on how best to ‘meet people where they are’ and will be a valuable resource for bringing stability to clients’ lives and empower them to re-prioritize their health and wellbeing. Using data collected during the program’s first nine months, CareZone will investigate ways to scale up and improve care in the Boston area, across Massachusetts and nationally, becoming a model for innovative community outreach and opioid.        

For more information about the CareZone program, visit http://www.kraftcommunityhealth.org/programs/mobile-opioid-addiction-program/.

About Massachusetts General Hospital

Founded in 1811, the Massachusetts General Hospital is the oldest and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The 999-bed medical center each year admits more than 50,000 inpatients, handles more than 1.5 million visits to its extensive outpatient programs at the main campus and four health centers, and records more than 105,958 emergency visits. The surgical staff perform more than 42,000 operations annually, and the MGH Vincent Obstetrics Service delivers nearly 3,900 babies a year. The largest nongovernment employer in the city of Boston, the MGH has more than 24,877 employees, including more than 4,800 registered nurses.  MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $900 million.  MGH and Brigham and Women's Hospital are founding members of Partners HealthCare System, a Boston-based integrated health care delivery system.  In 2003, MGH became the first hospital in the state to be awarded Magnet designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.  In August 2017, the MGH was once again named to the Honor Roll in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."

About the Kraft Center for Community Health

The Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is focused on leading innovation in community health. The center, established in 2012 by a generous gift from Robert K. Kraft and The Kraft Family Foundation aims to expand access to high quality, cost effective health care for disadvantaged individuals and families. The Kraft Center works to catalyze innovative solutions to real world community health problems, execute solutions locally, and make them scalable and ready to spread locally and nationally to improve health outcomes for disadvantaged populations. 

Project Collaborators

About the GE Foundation
GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of GE, is committed to transforming our communities and shaping the diverse workforce of tomorrow by leveraging the power of GE. GE Foundation is developing skills by bringing innovative learning in community health globally and STEM education, scaling what works, and building sustainable solutions. GE Foundation is inspiring others to act by connecting GE people with communities through matching gifts and United Way, leading on emerging issues such as the opiate crisis, and convening community leaders to maximize our impact. Learn more at www.gefoundation.com or follow the us on Twitter at @GE_Foundation.

About Boston Health Care for the Homeless
Since 1985, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has been delivering exceptional medical and behavioral health services to homeless individuals and families in Greater Boston. Each year, BHCHP provides care for over 11,000 patients where they are, whether in the streets and back alleys; at our over 45 clinics in adult, family, and domestic violence shelters; at our two hospital-based clinics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Medical Center; and in our 124-bed medical respite facilities, the Barbara McInnis House and the Stacy Kirkpatrick House. BHCHP is proud to work alongside local, state, and federal public health and homeless advocates to respond quickly to the changing needs of our patients.

For more than 30 years, BHCHP has bridged the gaps in care that impact the lives and health of homeless individuals and families, and is now one of the largest and most comprehensive health care for the homeless programs in the country. BHCHP continuously strives to understand and improve the health and health status of all people experiencing homelessness through our Institute for Research, Quality, and Policy, a collaborative center for research, quality improvement, education, advocacy, and public policy. As core to its mission, BHCHP adapts its care model to meet the evolving needs of this vulnerable population, including undertaking innovative interventions to stem the opioid crisis.

About the Boston Public Health Commission’s AHOPE Program

The Boston Public Health Commission, the country's oldest health department, is an independent public agency providing a wide range of health services and programs. It is governed by a seven-member board of health appointed by the Mayor of Boston.

Public service and access to quality health care are the cornerstones of our mission - to protect, preserve, and promote the health and well-being of all Boston residents, particularly those who are most vulnerable. The Commission's more than 40 programs are grouped into six bureaus: Child, Adolescent & Family Health; Community Health Initiatives; Homeless Services; Infectious Disease; Recovery Services; and Emergency Medical Services.

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