The GSSBHC provides a safety net that links behavioral health service providers across the region, so that the most vulnerable residents who are most likely to slip through the cracks can receive needed support and services.
End of Year Rewind Post
They say that with the New Year comes a sense of renewal — unfortunately the beginning of 2021 has brought with it a continuation of the many challenges we witnessed in 2020. It is evident now more than ever that turning the page on the calendar doesn’t mean we can turn away from the intense challenges facing our communities as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, health inequities, racial injustice, and other social determinants that threaten public health in the Blue Hills region. Despite the fatigue and despair that we’ve felt over the past year, and still continue to feel in this New Year, we also have reasons for optimism and hope.
The Blue Hills Community Health Alliance (CHNA 20) begins 2021 in a stronger position than ever before, ready to tackle the mounting challenges ahead of us with the strength and support of our many community partners.
Celebrating Kym Williams
2020 has been a year of great change for most of us, and the Blue Hills Community Health Alliance is no exception. Amid all the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and social inequities that impact our communities, we’re also facing internal change. Some of the changes for the CHNA are positive, such as our new home at Bay State Community Services. Others are harder to accept -- like the decision of our longtime Program Director, Kym Williams, to step aside into a less substantive role as we approached the end of the fiscal year.
Caring for the Community during COVID-19: Lessons Learned
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, CHNA 20 has been highlighting the stories of our community partners and their heroic efforts to continue serving their clients despite the many challenges presented by the pandemic. As an organization that strives to make meaningful connections between agencies to improve public health outcomes in the long term, we feel it’s vitally important for us to take some time to step back and examine the lessons that have been learned during this time. What has worked well? What surprising insights have agencies had due to changing their models? What do community partners want to take forward with them into a “new normal” that will hopefully change public health for the better?
Caring for the Community during COVID-19: Quincy Community Action Programs (QCAP)
“It was so wonderful to hear a friendly voice after our ordeal. And without a delivery, we didn’t know how we were going to get food.”
Fred* and his brother George* share a home in Weymouth and, in their late seventies, are both in frail health. For the past few years, they’ve faithfully visited Quincy Community Action Program’s (QCAP) Southwest Community Food Center. But in 2019, both brothers fell ill and were hospitalized. The toll on their health left them vulnerable during the pandemic. Both Fred and George contracted COVID-19. Fortunately, their friends at QCAP were able to help as the brothers recovered from their long illness.