Re: Lend a hand to earthquake victims - I will be going to Haiti with this group and we need your help.
Leon David
Among the many new realities of the earthquake in Haiti were
widespread spinal cord injuries. In the past, people with spinal cord
injuries in Haiti had no real chance of surviving their injuries as
the country has virtually no clinical infrastructure or expertise in
this area. Thankfully, the intervention of the US Navy and the
international community has changed that bleak reality.
St. Boniface Hospital in Fond des Blancs has taken the lead in
attempting to provide ongoing care for these individuals, and they
contacted Commonwealth Care Alliance and Boston’s Community Medical
Group to leverage our unique expertise in the care of those with
injury-related serious disability. In late June, a group of our
clinicians will travel to Haiti to work with Healing Hands for Haiti
providing direct care and training others at St. Boniface Hospital, as
well as developing plans to maintain an ongoing clinical role at the
hospital.
However, we are in desperate need of your help to make sure we can
honor our commitment to St. Boniface Hospital. The amount of money
needed to provide infrastructure to develop and maintain an ongoing
care commitment to this project, fund full-time nurse practitioners,
physical therapists, physicians, and social workers (in excess of our
domestic requirements) to maintain an ongoing presence in Haiti, and
to purchase equipment and supplies that are so desperately needed for
this injured population is considerable.
Commonwealth Care Alliance will be making a substantial contribution
toward this venture, but we can’t do it alone. Therefore, we urge you
to consider donations in the following tiers:
Corporate Donors: $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000
Individual Donors: $100, $500, or $1,000
Please join us for a fundraising event on June 14, 5 p.m.–7:30 p.m. at
30 Winter Street, 12th floor, Boston, MA 02108 featuring live Haitian
music, Haitian food, and inspirational talks from clinicians who have
recently been to Haiti on clinical missions.
If you’re unable to attend, but would still like to contribute, please
send your donations, made payable to Commonwealth Care Alliance, to:
Brenda Madden
Commonwealth Care Alliance
30 Winter Street, Boston, MA 02108
Thank you for your support in this worthy cause.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Master
President & CEO
Commonwealth Care Alliance | 30 Winter Street | Boston, MA 02108
P (617) 426-0600 | F (617) 426-3109
bma...@commonwealthcare.org | www.commonwealthcare.org
Additional Information: Boston’s Community Medical Group
Founded in 1988, in collaboration with the Boston Center for
Independent Living, Boston’s Community Medical Group (BCMG) is a
501(c)3 nonprofit multidisciplinary consumer governed, primary care
system, and clinical affiliate of Commonwealth Care Alliance that
provides comprehensive care to about 400 individuals with severe
physical disabilities living in eastern Massachusetts. Conditions
include congenital anomalies, nervous system tumors, neuromuscular
disorders, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and
Cerebral Palsy, among others. All participants use wheelchairs for
mobility, and rely on personal care attendants or alternatives for
assistance with activities of daily living; about fifteen percent
require some form of ventilator assistance.
BCMG is the first practice in the nation to provide community-based
primary care to adults with severe physical disabilities through a
multidisciplinary team approach to care that emphasizes prevention,
management of chronic conditions, and prompt responsiveness to new
problems.
BCMG provides high quality, comprehensive primary care by reducing
barriers to care, establishing highly personalized patient
partnerships, and providing seamless clinical management in all
settings at all times. Care is provided through enhanced
multidisciplinary teams with care evaluations and clinical management
mainly occurring in home and community settings.
BCMG’s multidisciplinary, team-based staffing model includes
physicians (Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Physiatry, and
Clinical Disability fellows in training), nurse practitioners and
physician assistants, physical and occupational therapists, behavioral
health specialists, administrative support staff, and medical
equipment and supply specialists.
BCMG’s primary care redesign has the following elements:
· Integrated, multidisciplinary clinical teams that include
nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physicians, social workers,
and behavioral health specialists
· A systematic response capability to the low clinical
thresholds for secondary complications through the capacity for same
day and home visit evaluation/management by a primary care team that
has knowledge and understanding of the unique care needs of
individuals with involved disabilities
· A meaningful 24/7 off-hour assessment capability by the
primary care team with EMR support
· The authority to allocate clinical and support needs
· Clinically meaningful IT infrastructure enhancement for
guidelines, rosters, and data-driven quality improvement
· A systematic approach to continuity clinical care at all
places and times for the hospital, skilled nursing facility, office,
and home
· Preferred network of specialist and vendors with experience
in managing and serving those with disabilities
Multiple peer reviews and MassHealth commissioned studies over two
decades consistently demonstrate improved care, patient satisfactions,
and reduced costs through the BCMG care approach.