The Cape and Islands United Way has awarded Community Health Center of Cape Cod a 2018-2019 Community Impact Partner grant with $10,000 in support of their Caring for Patients with Complex Care Needs Program. Community Health Center of Cape Cod’s Complex Care Program is a primary care-based program that addresses the needs of patients with complex needs and multiple co-morbidities, including patients living with diabetes. The program helps patients who may have one or more chronic continuous or episodic health conditions expected to last 12 or more months. The Complex Care team works with patients’ primary care providers to devise a wellness plan that may incorporate dietary changes, exercise, education, and guidance.

The Cape and Islands United Way supports community needs and creates strategies that allow individuals and families to experience economic and human success through educational achievement, income stability, and healthy living. The Caring for Patients with Complex Care Needs Program is partially funded by Cape and Islands United Way.

Community Health Center of Cape Cod continues to grow and add new services, the latest of which is Teledermatology. CHC providers are now able capture and forward high-resolution images of a patient’s skin health concerns to a board certified dermatologist for review. This service will help patients to gain access to specialty care during a primary care visit. It also allows CHC providers to manage a larger number of patients in-house, while referring patients with more serious skin concerns to be seen by a specialist sooner. Research demonstrates that early intervention has a direct positive impact on long-term health outcomes.

CHC introduced telehealth services in 2016. Telehealth offerings include video interpreting services, teleoptometry and a home telehealth program. CHC also offers telepsychiatry, utilizing video conferencing technology for virtual delivery of psychiatry services to patients.

Telehealth provides an avenue to participate in the shift to value-based care by offering patients new ways to access healthcare, improving the quality of care for patients through sustained connections between clinician and patient and improving patient outcomes and experience.

To learn more about telehealth services at CHC of Cape Cod, please contact Emily Phillips, Telehealth Program Manager at [email protected] or call 508-477-7090 ext. 1177.

Community Health Center of Cape Cod is excited to welcome two additional members to their Board of Directors: Terry McGee and Dr. Bruce Donoff.

Therese (Terry) McGee is an independent marketing consultant who works with technology companies that sell highly complex products and services to help them discover their critical value and develop the right message and content for the right channel. With over 25 years of experience as a marketing executive and consultant, Terry has worked for various software companies in executive roles including FileNet and SPSS (IBM), Exari, and Interwoven (HP). Terry has a passion for healthcare and formerly headed up healthcare industry marketing for a software organization, where she established the company as a top player in healthcare and grew revenues from zero to $12 million within 2 years. Terry has a B.S. Degree in Accounting from Bentley University in Waltham, MA. She lives in Mashpee with her husband.

Dr. R. Bruce Donoff is an oral and maxillofacial surgery doctor in Boston, Massachusetts and is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM). He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and has been in practice for more than 20 years. He has served as Dean of Harvard School of Dental Medicine since 1991. He was born in New York City, and attended Brooklyn College as an undergraduate. He received his DMD from HSDM and his MD from Harvard Medical School. He has received numerous honors during his academic career, including the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Research Recognition Award and the William J. Gies Foundation Award for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He lives in Chestnut Hill with his wife.

YMCA Cape Cod honored Community Health Center of Cape Cod as a Community Partner at their Annual Meeting on April 11, 2018 at The Ridge Club. The YMCA Cape Cod and CHC of Cape Cod have collaborated on a county-wide partnership that strives to reduce health care costs by preventing or controlling chronic health conditions. Led by the Barnstable County Department of Human Services, this broad-based coalition takes aim at diabetes, hypertension, and falls among the elderly. Through this Healthy Living program, Health Center patients are referred to health, social, wellness and fitness activities provided by community partners at no cost to the patient. The Health Center also has had a visible presence at the YMCA’s Annual World Diabetes Day Program. The YMCA Cape Cod is home to a Diabetes Prevention Program and Resource Center, and CHC of Cape Cod hosts a variety of Healthy Living Wellness Programs, including My Life, My Health classes.

At the Annual Meeting, the YMCA presented a video about their collaborative efforts with Community Health Center of Cape Cod and the positive outcomes they have been able to achieve. The video and honor highlighted the existing partnership between the YMCA Cape Cod and CHC and how they work together to promote healthy living, particularly for individuals living with diabetes. Two other local organizations were recognized as Community Partners, including Falmouth Public Schools for their Youth Development programming and District Attorney Michael O’Keefe for Social Responsibility and giving back to our neighbors.

For more information about CHC of Cape Cod and its nutrition and wellness services, visit the website: https://chcofcapecod.org/services/nutrition-and-wellness.

Community Health Center of Cape Cod continues to grow and add new services, the latest of which is teledermatology. Beginning April 1, CHC providers will be able capture and forward high-resolution images of a patient’s dermatologic concerns to a board certified dermatologist for review. Teledermatology enables patients to meet the recommended screenings onsite during a primary care visit and will help triage dermatology referrals. The implementation of teledermatology services at CHC helps providers to care for a larger number of patients in-house, while simultaneously triaging the higher acuity cases to be seen by a specialist sooner. Early intervention has a direct positive impact on long-term health outcomes.

CHC introduced telehealth services in 2016. Telehealth offerings include a video interpreting services and a home telehealth program. CHC also offers telepsychiatry, utilizing video conferencing technology for virtual delivery of psychiatry services to patients.

To learn more about becoming a patient at Community Health Center of Cape Cod, please visit us online at www.chcofcapecod.org or call 508-477-7090.

Community Health Center of Cape Cod is expanding addiction treatment services. The health center has launched its Structured Outpatient Addictions Program (SOAP) for individuals who may be just leaving detox or are in need of daily, more structured outpatient support. This program is unique as it focuses on substance use treatment through intensive counseling and access to primary care services, but also addresses many of the other areas in patients’ lives, which might interfere with individual recovery such as access to employment, housing, food assistance and more.

CHC’s SOAP program is a full-day program that meets Monday-Friday from 8:30am-3:30pm. Patients are expected to attend for 1-2 weeks. Each morning consists of four behavioral groups focused on various topics, including recovery skills, relationship issues, self-esteem, and managing difficult emotions. The afternoon is comprised of presentations from various partner-agencies within the community in order to connect patients with needed services, such as Mass Rehab and Housing Assistance Program (HAC). Weekly yoga classes and nutrition classes will also be offered. Additionally, participants have the opportunity to have individual sessions with clinicians throughout the week.

In addition to this SOAP Program, the Health Center also offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program for substance use disorder using Suboxone or Vivitrol and an outpatient treatment group called Step Forward for individuals who may be contemplating steps to recovery. To learn more about the addictions programming at CHC of Cape Cod, please visit us online at https://chcofcapecod.org/services/addictions, or call 508-477-7090 ext. 3106 to schedule an appointment.

Walk-in services are available for Community Health Center of Cape Cod patients at the Mashpee location to make care as convenient and accessible as possible. Walk-in care is for sick visits, such as flu, cold, cough, sore throat and other minor illness or injury. The Walk-in team is comprised of CHC Primary Care Providers, Nurse Practitioners, Medical Assistants and Registered Nurses.

Walk-in care is available for registered patients of CHC of Cape Cod. To come for a Walk-in visit, patients can check-in at the front desk of the Mashpee office, on the top floor. They will be seen by a provider as soon as possible. To become a new patient at the Health Center, visit during business hours, call 508-477-7090 or register online at chcofcapecod.org.

The hours for Walk-in care in Mashpee are Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and Saturday from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. In addition to Walk-in services, the Health Center offers integrated primary care, behavioral health care, dental care, gynecology, optometry, addiction recovery services, on-site affordable prescriptions and other services.

Community Health Center of Cape Cod has opened a public retail pharmacy in their newly- renovated Bourne office at 123 Waterhouse Drive, just one mile south of the Bourne Bridge. The pharmacy is open to all individuals, whether or not they receive their primary care at the Health Center, for all retail prescription needs. Staffed with two pharmacists, Madeleine Bergin and John Correira, the CHC pharmacy provides personalized and professional service, and most insurances are accepted. Pharmacy services include new prescriptions, refill prescriptions, adult immunizations and mail service. A temporary sliding scale is available for patients whose insurance is not yet active, and CHC pharmacists can transfer medications from a customer’s current pharmacy to CHC.

The Bourne pharmacy hours of operation are Monday through Thursday, from 9 AM to 7 PM, and Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM. The team in the CHC Pharmacy can serve as a valuable resource to make sure customers fully understand their medications, learn about any possible harmful interactions and find alternatives to reduce cost and the number of medications they are taking. In addition to Pharmacy services, the Health Center offers primary care, behavioral health, dental, optometry, women’s health, addictions treatment and more. For more information, visit us online at chcofcapecod.org/services/pharmacy or call 508-477-0004.

Click here to read the article in January 2018’s Cape Cod Magazine.

Click here to read a Cape Cod Times interview with CHC’s CEO Karen Gardner on the potential fate of health programs after federal funding cuts.