May 25, 2007

MGH Community Health Associates' new Wellness Center

MGH Community Health Associates, the body that provides programmatic support and technical assistance for the MGH's four Boston-area health centers, celebrated the opening of a new Wellness and Health Promotion Center April 12 at the MGH Revere HealthCare Center. The center's new resources, as well as partnerships with different MGH departments and community agencies, will help advance its mission of providing primary and preventive community health services to the low-income, uninsured and underserved populations of the North Shore.

The new center features a large yoga room with ocean views, a private treatment room for acupuncture, a comfortable counseling room and the newly renovated Access to Resources for Community Health room, which offers high-quality health information services to local residents and professionals. Wellness and health promotion services also will be available on-site at the MGH health centers serving Charlestown and Chelsea.

"Our goal is to enhance the well-being and quality of life for patients served by the MGH community health centers. The center provides culturally appropriate, easily accessible and affordable health programs," says Kathleen Miller, RN, MA, director of the center.

To achieve this, the center has formed partnerships with several programs, including the MGH Women's Heart Health program, the MGH Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, the MGH Revere Physical Therapy program and the New England School of Acupuncture.

The road to opening the center began several years ago with the vision of Anne Richmond, MPH, director of Community Health Associates, and the support of Sally Iles, associate vice president for Primary Care Administration. Says Richmond, "We are thrilled to be able to provide additional health and wellness programs to MGH health center patients and do it in a way that advances scientific knowledge about the benefits of these programs for patients' health and well-being."

From left, Iles; Richmond; Herbert Benson, MD, director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine; Evelyn Fowler, MAc, LicAc, president of the New England School of Acupuncture; Gregory L. Fricchione, MD, director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine; Malissa J. Wood, MD, FACC, co-director of the MGH Heart Center Women's Heart Health Program; and Miller