Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Milton (BID Milton) recently donated $15,000 to the Town of Randolph to help support the Randolph Department of Public Health’s Community Health Workers Program which provides post-hospitalization assistance to Vietnamese and Haitian residents.
This is the second year in a row in which BID Milton has donated $15,000 to the town’s Department of Public Health to help support the Community Health Workers Program.
The program consists of the town’s community health workers visiting Vietnamese and Haitian residents while they are patients in BID Milton to introduce themselves and the services they can provide assistance with once the patients return home. Post-hospitalization services providing help in applying for health insurance, scheduling follow-up medical appointments or arranging for transportation to appointments, assistance with filling medications, and referrals to local health promotion programs.
The goal of the program is to improve access to healthcare services for Randolph’s Vietnamese and Haitian residents and to help reduce readmissions to the hospital.
Randolph’s Public Health Nurse Jean McGinty, MSN, RN, sees this partnership between BID Milton and the Town as an important means of reaching the diverse community residents of Randolph to promote a healthy lifestyle and provide health education in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way.
Randolph’s Town Manager, David Murphy adds: “This program is one of the ways to educate residents about resources to manage their own chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes or the associated risk factors with a goal of improving health and decreasing or eliminating readmissions to the hospital.”
BID-Milton President/CEO Rich Fernandez emphasized the forward-thinking approach that underlies the program. “Healthcare is moving away from just treating the sick and towards trying to keep people healthy and out of the hospital,” said Mr. Fernandez. “This program is an excellent example of a community-based approach to keeping people well and preventing hospitalizations.”
About Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Milton
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Milton (BID Milton) is a member of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals. More than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees share in a mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.
