CHC of Cape Cod’s Nutritionist Dena Irwin will teach a free class on navigating the grocery store aisles this Wednesday, December 13, at 1 pm. The class will include tricks and tips for making healthy, nutritious, and affordable choices at the grocery store, along with a guide to reading food labels.
Event Date: Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Time: 1 pm- 2 pm
Location: CHC of Cape Cod, Mashpee Location
Administration Conference Room, Upper Level
107 Commercial Street, Mashpee, MA 02649
Media Contact: Alex Speck
Media Contact Phone: (917) 509-6813 (day of event)
Media Contact Email: [email protected]
For more information about the class, contact Alex Speck in the Development Office at 508-477-5990, or email Alex Speck.
Community Health Center of Cape Cod’s Addiction Program has received certification from the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS). CHC of Cape Cod is the only community health center in Southeastern Massachusetts with this accreditation. The BSAS certification is necessary to run and expand CHC’s Structured Outpatient Addictions Program set to launch in January. To obtain certification, CHC’s Addictions Program staff created new policies and procedures, separate from those of the Health Center. The BSAS certification ensures that insurance companies can reimburse the Health Center for visits and allows for Department of Public Health funding. This funding is instrumental in improving and expanding the Health Center’s Addictions Programs.
CHC’s SOAP program is a full-day outpatient addictions treatment program that will be available to all individuals, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. There will be same-day access to the program, and no one will be turned away. The main component of the SOAP program will focus on assessing patients’ barriers to care and to address substance abuse and co-occurring conditions. The objective of the program will be to assist individuals in establishing and reaching self-identified goals to maintain employment, stay in school, engage with family, be a contributing member of the community, maintain sobriety and achieve stable housing. A Medication-Assisted Treatment programs is also already in place and available.
The Community Health Center of Cape Cod Addictions Services team recently launched its newest outpatient therapy group: Step Forward. Step Forward is based on the “Stages of Change” model and is designed to help people who are in the pre-contemplative or contemplative stages of addictions recovery. The goal is to help individuals move from the beginning stages of change to goal setting and action, and then to make any necessary changes. Referrals to the program can be made by Health Center providers or other providers. Individuals can also choose to enter the program on their own, or can be referred by a friend or family member.
The CHC of Cape Cod Step Forward group meets once a week for seven weeks. It is expressly designed for individuals who are concerned about their substance use. The Step Forward curriculum includes exploration of how substance use is affecting an individual’s life, addictions education and the opportunity to identify a need for change and create goals for the future. The group is facilitated by a Licensed Independent Social Worker, who will aid participants through the seven week program. As participants set goals, the facilitator provides referrals for further treatment, social support groups, counseling, and more, as needed.
The Step Forward group meets every Wednesday at 10 am at Community Health Center of Cape Cod’s Falmouth office, at 210 Jones Road, Suite 22 in Homeport. For more information and to register for Step Forward, please contact Addictions Program Manager Yvonne Nickerson at 508-477-7090 or [email protected]. To learn about CHC of Cape Cod and their Addictions programming, please visit www.chcofcapecod.org.
As part of a yearlong 20th Anniversary Celebration, CHC of Cape Cod will host a Family Fun Day at Cape Cod Children’s Museum this Saturday, October 21, from 10-12. Admission is free for those who mention CHC of Cape Cod! Activities will include a “Wellness Check-Up” for your child’s favorite stuffed animal and free play in the museum. The Health Center staff will be available to answer questions about their services and to provide information. Healthy snacks and refreshments will also be available.
Event Date: Saturday, October 21
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Location: Cape Cod Children’s Museum
577 Great Neck Road South, Mashpee, MA 02649
Media Contact: Alex Speck
Media Contact Phone: (917) 509-6813 (day of event)
Media Contact Email: [email protected]
For more information about this and other 20th Anniversary events, contact Alex Speck in the Development Office at 508-477-5990, or email Alex Speck.
Community Health Center of Cape Cod has promoted Theresa Guanci, DMD to Dental Director and has hired Madeline Bergin, BSPharm, RPh, CIP as Pharmacy Manager to help launch its dental office and retail pharmacy in their renovated Bourne location. The dental office is set to open in November, and the retail pharmacy will open before the end of the year. Both dental and pharmacy services will be open to the public.
Dr. Guanci, of Mashpee, was promoted to the position of Dental Director after she served as the Interim Dental Director and Staff Dentist. Dr. Guanci is a graduate of Boston University’s School of Dentistry and joined the Health Center in 2014. She completed the final year of her externship at the Health Center and decided to return. In addition to providing leadership in our Mashpee location, Dr. Guanci will launch the Bourne location dental services. The expanded Bourne location has two dental chairs, and services are available to all individuals, even if they are not a patient of CHC of Cape Cod.
CHC of Cape Cod will also open a retail pharmacy in the next few months at their Bourne location, and Ms. Bergin will serve at the Pharmacy Manager. Prior to joining CHC of Cape Cod, Ms. Bergin, of Bourne, was the original Pharmacy Manager of the satellite Stop & Shop pharmacy in Bourne for 15 years. She also served as the Pharmacy Manager for CVS Corporation for seven years. She graduated from University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy and has been a Registered Pharmacist in Massachusetts since June 1980. Ms. Bergin is an affiliate of the Massachusetts Pharmacists’ Association.
For more information about CHC of Cape Cod’s services, visit: www.chcofcapecod.org/services
Community Health Center of Cape Cod hosted its 17th annual golf tournament at Pocasset Golf Club on Monday, September 25. One hundred golfers participated, raising funds to support Health Center efforts to provide increased access to integrated primary care, dental, behavioral health and optometry services to children, adults and families on Cape Cod. The Health Center is grateful for the wonderful show of support from the community and tournament sponsors, enabling them to raise more than $65,000. This is the most successful tournament the Health Center has hosted in recent years. Cape Cod Healthcare was the Platinum Sponsor of the event. Gold sponsors of the tournament included: Callahan Construction Managers, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, Dellbrook JKS, Falmouth Lumber, Group Brokerage Insurance Agency, Lawrence-Lynch Corp, PIAM, Quest Diagnostics, Raponi Drywall, Slade Mortgage, The Valle Group, and W.B. Mason Company, Inc.
Pat Callahan, Phil Dinan, Ted Doyle, and Ed SanClemente from Callahan, Inc. placed first in the men’s division. Winning first place for the mixed group was Robert Foos, Ed Mackness, Marion Maney, and Richard Miller. The golf tournament is one of many events in Community Health Center of Cape Cod’s year-long 20th Anniversary Celebration.
Community Health Center of Cape Cod will host their 17th Annual Golf Tournament at Pocasset Golf Club on Monday, September 25. The Annual Golf Tournament serves as a significant fundraising opportunity for the Health Center, and supports the daily expenses associated with providing affordable healthcare to all, regardless of ability to pay. We would love to have you attend to cover this event on September 25!
Founded in 1998 as the Falmouth Free Clinic, CHC is a Federally Qualified Health Center providing primary care, behavioral health care, optometry, dental services and women’s health care, as well as specialized services and a full-service pharmacy to more than 15,000 patients. The Health Center has offices in Mashpee, Falmouth and Bourne.
More information about the event is below, and the times of the most important components are highlighted:
Event Date: Monday, September 25, 2017
Start Time:
10:00 am: Registration and lunch
11:30 am: Shotgun start
4:00 pm: Dinner
5:00 pm: (Approximately) Awards will be distributed, and remarks will be given by Karen Gardner, CEO and Joe Hawley, Committee chair
Location: Pocasset Golf Club, 24 Club House Drive, Pocasset, MA 02559
Event Contact: Alex Speck
Event Contact Phone (day of): cell: (917) 509-6813
Event Contact Email: [email protected]
Event Website: www.chcofcapecod.org/golf
Community Health Center of Cape Cod believes everyone deserves accessible, affordable, high-quality care and is committed to expanding medical and behavioral health services for substance use disorder prevention and treatment. As a result, the Health Center’s structured and safe outpatient, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program is now available to the public. All individuals can participate even if they are not a registered patient of CHC of Cape Cod.
Since 2010, the Health Center has offered an office based opioid treatment program, and the overwhelming current need in the community has led to a significant expansion of this program. The MAT program at the Health Center involves the use of Suboxone or Vivitrol to treat individuals with substance use disorders. Vivitrol blocks the pleasurable feelings produced by using opioids and alcohol. Suboxone helps to diminish cravings, does not produce a high, and blocks or reduces the effect of heroin and other opioids. Participants in the MAT program at CHC of Cape Cod can count on care in a safe and empowering environment, development of an integrated treatment plan, access to comprehensive services at CHC, personalized pathways to recovery through consistent guidance and Medication-Assisted Treatments.
During weekly visits with a combination of certified physicians, registered nurses, behavioral health clinicians and support staff, the CHC team will assist patients with their recovery, supporting them both physically and emotionally. Education for maintaining a healthier lifestyle is an important step on the road to recovery, and this program provides individuals with the necessary tools to live a healthy drug-free and alcohol-free life.
Medication-Assisted Treatment services are available at all three CHC of Cape Cod locations in Mashpee, Falmouth and Bourne. For more information about the MAT program and Addictions Treatment at Community Health Center of Cape Cod, visit www.chcofcapecod.org/services/addictions, or call 508-477-7090 ext. 3106.
Community Health Center of Cape Cod hosted an Opening Reception and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at their newly-renovated Bourne office at 123 Waterhouse Road on Tuesday, August 15. The expansion from 2,200 square feet to nearly 10,000 square feet was designed to meet the increasing demand for residential access to primary care, behavioral health, dental and pharmacy services. More than 60 individuals gathered to celebrate the opening of the expanded space, including Community Health Center of Cape Cod board members, donors, staff and friends, along with community partners.
The expanded space in the Bourne office will include dental services, including preventative exams and restorative care; a public pharmacy providing access to affordable medication; improved office space for increased patient privacy and comfort; expanded Primary Care, Behavioral Health and Addictions Treatment services and dedicated space for prevention and wellness education to help patients understand and manage their health.
Following tours of the new location and a ribbon cutting ceremony, the Health Center’s Chief Executive Officer Karen Gardner introduced and led a panel discussion with local leaders on substance use. Panelists included Massachusetts State Representative Randy Hunt, CEO of Duffy Health Center Heidi Romans Nelson, Bourne Deputy Fire Chief Joseph J. Carrara, Senior Project Manager at Barnstable County Department of Human Services Vaira Harik, and Medication-Assisted Treatment Nurse Coordinator of Community Health Center of Cape Cod Jennifer Monaghan.
Ms. Gardner started the discussion by asking each panelist to address what their organizations are doing to combat addiction. “The two bookends to addiction are prevention and recovery, and they are the most difficult,” Ms. Harik said. All the panelists echoed the sentiment that early intervention and prevention in schools is key in fighting the addiction program on Cape Cod.
In 2014, Former Governor Deval Patrick declared opioid abuse an epidemic. Heroin use and mortality from overdose has nearly-doubled since 2012. Eight percent of Cape residents are now addicted to alcohol and 6,700 residents in our community have died from opioid abuse in the last 10 years. Representative Randy Hunt stated that it’s going to be a challenge to fight the epidemic if we don’t use our time, effort and money at the State level to introduce prevention programs in the schools.
Bourne Deputy Fire Chief Carrara emphasized the need to support the Substance Free Coalition. “We are on the front lines,” Carrara said, adding that the Bourne Fire Department fields an average of 5,000 calls and 100 overdoses in Bourne a year.
For more information about expanded Addictions Treatment at Community Health Center
Community Health Center of Cape Cod is organizing a number of events from August 13-19 to celebrate National Health Center Week. Each year, health centers across the nation celebrate the work and services they provide to populations in need within their communities on designated days during the week. As the country’s largest primary care network, Health Centers now serve as the health care home for over 25 million Americans in over 10,000 delivery sites across the nation. One in every 13 people in the United States gets their care in a community health center. Health Centers deliver high quality, cost effective, accessible care to all people, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status.
The theme for National Health Center Week 2017 is Celebrating America’s Health Centers: The Key to Healthier Communities. CHC of Cape Cod is hosting the following events free and Open to the public:
For information about any Health Center Week activities at Community Health Center of Cape Cod, contact Alex Speck in the Development Office at 508-477-5990, or email Alex Speck.
p: 508-477-7090
f: 508-477-7028
123 Waterhouse Rd.
Bourne, MA 02532
1185B Falmouth Rd.
Centerville, MA 02632
210 Jones Rd.
Falmouth, MA 02540
26 Edgerton Dr.
N. Falmouth, MA 02556
