v      Articles, p.1, 2

v      Did You Know That…, p. 2,3

v      Meeting Minutes, p. 3-9

v      Calendar, p. 9

THE ADVOCATE

The Newsletter of the Greater Taunton Health & Human Service Coalition (GTHHSC) and the Greater Attleboro Taunton Health & Education Response (GATHER)

 

Your Input Is Needed!

 

AHEC Health & Human Services Providers Focus Group

 

June 15, 2004, 10:30-12:00

Associates for Human Services, Taunton

 

Please join us for a focus group discussion on addressing health disparities and health care workforce issues. AHEC of Southeastern Massachusetts will be facilitating the discussion to better understand the needs of the region and to assess how we can be a resource to providers.

 

Refreshments and a thank you gift will be provided.

 

To reserve your space, contact Heidi Holland, 508-583-2250, x214, or hholland@hcsm.org by June 8, 2004.

 

 

(From Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan Brochure)

 

   The BMC HealthNet Plan serves nearly 200 cities and towns in Eastern, Southeastern and Western Massachusetts. It offers more than 1,700 primary care doctors, over 200 primary care locations, 20 hospitals and 1,000 pharmacies.

   Members get more than free medical care. Other benefits include personal physicians who speak your language, offices and hospital services close to home, care for the whole family, specialists, free prescription medications, free over the counter medicine, health and wellness programs, a full range of services and individualized care in mental health and substance abuse services, free infant/child car seats, free child bike helmets, free manual breast pumps for nursing mothers, and a free Book for Your Birthday Program for children aged 10 and under.

   For information about service areas, benefits and eligibility in any language, call 800-792-4355.     ♣

Morton Hospital and Medical Center presents Women’s Workshop: It’s a New You!” 5/22/04, 8:00-1:00,

 Holiday Inn, Taunton. $25, registration required; The Role of Spirituality in Healing, 5/25/04, 6:30 pm, 

Margaret Stone Conference Room, Free. Pre-registration required; Going Vegetarian--The Healthy Way, 

6/3/04, 6:30-8:30 pm, Free, pre-registration required; Reflexology, 6/4/04, 8:00 am, Silver City Galleria 

Community Room. For information or pre-registration, call 508-828-7777. 

The David H. Mulligan Center for Health Promotion presents Cross Cultural Communication, 5/19/04, 9:00-2:00, $45; Gay and Lesbian Marriage: Implications for Schools and Health Care Institutions, 6/3/04. Implications for Schools at 8:30-11:30. Implications for Health Care Settings, 2:00-4:30. $30 per session. Call Linda Owings, 508-583-2250, x222.

Office for Victims of Crime Professional Development Scholarship Program is available to those who work with victims of crime. Up to $1,000 for individuals and up to $5,000 for teams. For information, call 866-682-8822.

Understanding Domestic Violence and the Restraining Order Process in the Massachusetts Court System will be held 6/5/04, 8:30-4:00, at the Canal Club Conference Room at the Best Western, Bourne, MA. $5.00. Call 888-530-2430.

Mental Illness, Substance Abuse & Risk will be held 6/24/04, 8:30-5:00, at the Holiday Inn, Taunton. To register, speak with Carole Puleo, 508-856-8732.

Consumer Advisory on Mercury in Fish for women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children is available at www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01038.html  and www.state.ma.us/dph/beha/fishlist.htm.

Critical MASS Web Resource may be accessed at www.EndDisparities.org.

MassCALL 2004 Training Series: “Implementing Environmental Strategies to Combat Underage Drinking”, for community leaders, substance abuse providers, coalition members, and all who want to learn more about implementing environmental strategies to reduce substance abuse, will be held 6/7/04, 8:30-4:30, at the Worcester Holiday Inn. $15. Call Akosua Sackey, 617-423-4337, x500.

United Way of Greater Attleboro/Taunton is beginning its community needs assessment of human service needs and resources. The purpose is to develop a base of information from which UWGAT will develop a strategic operations plan to address critical human service needs for the next 3 years. They are asking each human service agency to respond to a “Quality of Services” questionnaire. For information, please call 508-822-1371 or   508-222-2337.

Obesity Updates will be held 6/4/04, 9:15-4:00, at the WIC Learning Center, Framingham. Presented by the Massachusetts WIC Program. For information, call Diana at 508-875-8794.

New Edition of “Access to Health Care in Massachusetts is now available at www.mass.gov/dhcfp. For information, call Shelly M. Fortier at 617-988-3125.

7^th Annual Legislative Breakfast of the Greater Taunton Mayor’s AIDS Consortium will be held 5/14/04, 8:30-10:00, at A Nossa Casa, 4 Bay Road, Norton. $7.00 Donation. RSVP to Monica at 508-884-8264.

“Is It Summer Yet?” is this year’s Cooperative Production Fundraiser, to be held 6/25/04, 4:00-7:00, at the Jockey Club, Raynham. Includes hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, music, a cash bar, make-up specialists, chair massage, color analysis, fortune teller, and a raffle. $10 admission. Mail your name, phone, address, number of event tickets and raffle tickets ($2 for one/$5 for 3) to CO-OP, 455 Somerset Ave., PO Box 506, N. Dighton, MA 02764.

 3^rd Annual Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Conference, Caring Communities Save Lives: Suicide Prevention Across the Lifespan, will be held 5/18/04, at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester. For information, call Alan Holmlund, 617-624-5476, or Alan.Holmlund@state.ma.us

4^th Annual New England School of Prevention Studies will be held July 25-29, at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. For information, please call    207-621-2549, or visit www.neias.org.

 

 

 

 

Discussion Highlights:

Family Self-Sufficiency Coordinator, Donna DeFaria gave an overview of the Taunton Housing Authority program. Section 8 vouchers can now be used toward mortgages. She helps or refers people to help with credit reports, budget counseling, goal setting, barriers, career trainings and childcare. Donna formerly did information/referral for the Department of Human Services. She works with ProHome, and can also be linked to the Drug Free Communities Grant (Project YELL) through linking future parent programs with her clients. YELL wishes to support families in achieving their goals of parent and youth prevention education.

Understanding Domestic Violence and the Restraining Order Process in the Massachusetts Court System conference will be held 6/5/04, 8:30-4:00, at the Canal Club Conference Room, Bourne, MA. $5.00. For information, call 508-778-9470, x226.

209A - Orders filed against students become expensive to schools due to increased staff time. Suggested was the development and offering a "Dealing with 209As in Your School District" workshop.

 

WPEP Radio will carry a program about GATHER and GTHHSC on Thursday, 4/29/04, 9:00, at 1570 AM.

SEMA-VAV received a certificate of appreciation from the Gazette. They are working on a Department of Justice reimbursement grant.

Cut It Out, a national "Hairdresser's Project", has been contacted to discuss bringing the project to Massachusetts. Great minds think alike: GATHER offered a similar project to the Attleboro/Taunton area in 2001.

Expanded Website - Best website practices were discussed which included message boards and labor-intensive live communication. The DV/VP Committee submitted a letter of interest for an inclusive domestic violence resource site.

Organizational Structure

1.      Funding - GATHER will receive one more year of MRI funding. Funding applications to DPH kept the Committee goal oriented.

2.      Steering Committee - The Committee needs a mission statement, and a defined parent organization. Health Care of Southeastern Massachusetts helps with goals, missions or in setting up a Steering committee to pull in other communities and people with the same needs. A new Steering Committee could have a similar membership to the old one: DPH, HCSM, and representation from the subcommittees and fiscal agent, but meet infrequently. More linkages can be created through a Steering Committee, serving as a linkage between the two hubs, and those who can support the new needs best. GATHER Steering Committee can also function as a clearinghouse. The Advocate newsletter accomplishes this.

3.      Focus - GATHER addresses substance abuse and violence prevention. This Committee "cross-walks" with SEMA-VAV

4.      Connections - The Attleboro connection needs to be defined. The DV/VP Committee needs a "Name Stamp" identity, press releases, and one-on-one outreach into each community through a connection link. A pictorial graph of GATHER and its relationships would be helpful.

5.      Initiatives - The SART IX report can function as our needs assessment. Coordination reduces duplication and increases services through combined energy and receipt of grants. We have to be careful not to overextend.

 

Next Steps:

Create a GATHER DV/VP visual chart (LR)

 

Next Meetings:

Ø      Domestic Violence /Violence Prevention Committee: 5/20/04, 3:30, A.H.S.

Ø      Bristol County Domestic Violence Round Table: 5/18/04, 3:00, Southeast Massachusetts Legal Association, Fall River.

Contact Person: Lorraine Rosa, 508-823-4822

 

 

Discussion Highlights:

Grant Opportunity – DPH has released two grants to address youth prevention for the growing heroin problem in Massachusetts. Municipalities may apply. A cash and in-kind match are required. Federal monies may not be used.

 

Southcoast Drug Collaborative meets a Mayor Lambert’s Office in Fall River, and includes New Bedford and Taunton. Subcommittees are Social Service providers, Law, Elected Officials and Education. A Taunton Police officer is a member.

 

GATHER Funding – One more year of $5,000 is expected in May from a community benefits package. A Determination of Needs (D.O.N.) funding package is also expected. This could help fund GATHER’s Committees, initiatives and administration, as most grants don’t include administrative costs. One suggestion was to establish a 1^st time offenders program in the Attleboro court, similar to the adult Community Drug Education program model in Taunton. These two communities are already collaborating on a number of levels and projects, which includes the Community Crisis Intervention Team (CCIT) and the Gang Information Network.

 

Business Plan for a 1^st time offenders program can be put in place before funding is received. This could address a particular target group. First offenders may not be first time users, and it takes 3-4 weeks after a full drug assessment for counseling to begin.

 

Coalition Building has happened informally with the CCIT, Substance Abuse Committee and the Advocate Newsletter. Reductions in both funding and staff make it increasingly difficult for individuals to attend meetings. Affiliation with statewide substance abuse groups such as MOAR and CASA could help us with best practices, social norms campaigns and public services announcements (PSAs).

 

April is Alcohol Awareness Month. Now is the time to plan for next years’ activities.

 

GATHER Organizational Chart was shared and updated.

 

YELL grant covers administration, consulting, capacity building, training and travel expenses, and a start up piece for social marketing. MADD provided Youth In Action training through a subcontract.  The 1^st year includes needs assessment for the development of a social norms campaign in response to the collected data. As more school systems are added, so is cost for assessment. Yearly evaluation makes up 15% of the budget.

 

Next Steps:

To contact the Southcoast Drug Collaborative for next meetings, committees’ contacts and application for the DPH grant(s).

Update Organizational Chart

Look into D.O.N. funding and fiscal management.

Contact Joe Hamilton, Judge, Attleboro and Taunton Police Departments, Attleboro Director of the Department of Human Services, and Lorraine Rosa for a short-term committee to develop a diversion program plan based on a model from Essex.

Contact Ian Wong concerning how the Opiate RFR fits with the OJJDP grant, assessing the need and the percentage of cash match and in-kind for both RFRs.

Contact the Center for Healthy Community about assistance in readiness for application of the Opiate RFR.

 

Next Meeting:

5/19/04, 3:00, High Point Treatment, 4 Court St., Taunton.

 

Contact Person: Phil Shea, 508-824-7224.

 

 

Discussion Highlights:

Substance Abuse Round Table IX report is available at www.oocities.org/gathercoalition/SARTIX

 

Associates for Human Services Legislative Breakfast highlights important budget discussions and impacts on families.

 

Taunton Emergency Taskforce

v     Community Impact Grant was not awarded.

v     Red Cross is the 1^st response per charter. They want to collaborate with other responders.

 

Domestic Violence/Violence Prevention Committee is looking at structure and relation to GATHER and GTHHSC.

 

Greater Taunton Mayor’s AIDS Consortium 7^th Annual Breakfast will be held 5/14/04, 8:30-10:00, at A Nossa Casa, 4 Bay Road, Norton. Donation is $7.00. They are struggling with budget issues: funding fell from 51 Million to 31 Million, with a shortfall in the medicine fund. When patients stop taking medicine, resistance becomes an issue. Infections continue to rise, with 57% of cases among women, and 1/6 of new infections are drug resistant. Deaths also continue to rise. Because Taunton has anonymous testing and counseling, 91% get into care within 1-3 months after diagnosis. The state level is at 40%. More clients are reporting housing as an issue.

 

Salute to Health Spring Issue features benefits of physical activity and a calendar of heart healthy events in Taunton. Also featured in the English, Portuguese and Spanish newsletter were examples of weight loss winners from each cultural group.

 

Bristol County Savings Bank is funding a 14-week nutrition program for 7^th and 8^th graders. It will meet 2:30-4:30, twice weekly and include fitness, snack break, hands on nutrition, and dietitian developed plans. At the end of the program, the YMCA will present 3-month family memberships to participants. About 40 students are expected in this 28 lesson pilot program.

 

Healthy Choices targets New Bedford and Fall River with physical activity and nutrition in schools.

 

Budget is currently at $1321.15.

 

Coalition Dues Invoices will feature a suggested contribution range, opportunity for additional donations, and a check box for anyone who wants to continue to receive The Advocate who may have a financial hardship.

 

Announcements:

Ø      DPH is reorganizing and has experienced big cuts. Donalda will replace Ian as liaison.

Ø      The DPH Portuguese radio program ends 6/30/04, due to lack of funds. Donalda is seeking information for the last four programs, at        617-624-5224.

Ø      Radio Program - GTHHSC and GATHER will be featured on WPEP 1570 AM “Pathways to Hope”.

Ø      MassHealth Enrollment Center on Spring St. serves Portuguese and Spanish speakers. There are currently 13,000 children who are not eligible for MassHealth, and are waiting for the Children’s Medical Security Plan.

Ø      National Crime Victims Rights Week is April 18-24.

Ø      The Taunton CALL Newspaper is a great new resource. Some of the articles included

Ø      MOCD is looking at funding allocation plans for the biggest needs. He is looking for statistics or anecdotal information on client bases, trends, etc, in public services across the board. (housing, youth, daycare, transportation, health, substance abuse, etc.)

Ø      BMC Healthnet brochures were distributed. They are a primary care provider.

Ø      Family Planning received back some funding. The new budget is level funded from last year. The Taunton office remains open and is trying to restore services. Legislators Fagan, Menard and Haddad were thanked for their support.

Ø      Office for Victims of Crime has two new brochures: What You Should Know About Child Abuse (for children ages 6-11), and Assault Victimization.

 

Next Steps:

Send Coalition dues. (LR)

Join DMA listserve at MTF@Umassmed.edu (LR, Membership)

 

Next Meeting: 5/18/04, 9:00, A.H.S., 29 Broadway, 3^rd floor.

 

Contact Person: Richard McMahon, 508-979-7160, x3010

 

 

Discussion Highlights:

Obesity Prevention

v     Spring Salute To Health Newsletter was delivered to homes through Councils on Aging newsletters. Portuguese and Spanish editions were displayed at their locations. Deb will follow up with the schools for sending copies home with students.

v     Summer Issue will focus on summer issues such as hydration, handling food and food safety.

v     Safety Focus Issues include swimming and canoeing safety, lifeguards, drowning, child abuse prevention, window guards, gates helmets, and seatbelt safety can be disseminated at Health Fairs and other venues. There may be a way to expand Salute to Health to include safety issues. It may also be possible to disseminate flyers through retail establishment cashiers.

v     Children’s Healthcare Coalition is gathering stories of children on waiting lists. Taunton has 141 children waiting, which can take 6 months. Malinda at Health Care for All will disseminate the stories.  

 

Next Steps:

Contact Taunton Police about next Community Police Safety Day (LR)

Follow up with schools on distribution of Salute to Health (DB)

Contact O Journal and Portuguese Times to offer Salute to Health insert. (LR)

Get information for Summer issue. (LR)

Include Calendar information of YMCA and Boys & Girls club scholarships in Salute to Health. (LR)

Contact Taunton Gazette for Community Section postings. (LR)

Contact the Galleria to do a monthly safety poster display on a corkboard with pamphlets. (LR)

Look for grants to do safety issues (LR)

 

Next Meeting: 5/18/04, 10:15, A.H.S.

 

Contact Person: Lorraine Rosa, 508-823-4822

 

 

Discussion Highlights:

Lead Agency Report:

Ø      State Convention was attended by over 500. The budget is scheduled for a $1.7 million cut.

Ø      Drug Assistance Program is almost at capacity for the first time. A shortfall is expected in ’05.

Ø      Section 8 housing voucher program is in budget crisis. This is federal money.

 

Legislative Breakfast – The 7^th Annual meeting will be held 5/14/04, 8:30-10:00, at A Nossa Casa. Cost per person is $10.50, which includes tip.

 

AIDS Walk – There will be no AIDS Walk this year.

 

Tell Us About You – Anne Bisson is the Assistant Director of the City of Taunton Counsel on Aging. Programs include Elderly Outreach Program, Computer Education Classes for elders 60 and over, emergency rental mortgage program, violence prevention program and fitness program.

 

Next Meeting: 5/12/04, 9:00, Morton Hospital Café Annex.

 

Contact Person: Richard McMahon, 508-979-7160, x3010

 

 

Discussion Highlights:

Crisis Intervention Team will hold a training on May 4, 5 and 6, at the Galleria Mall. The Taunton Police Department was invited to conduct a workshop on crisis intervention.

 

Treatment and Prevention will meet to discuss application for a grant to address heroin and other opiate concerns. The SART IX report is now available at www.oocities.org/gathercoalition/SARTIX.htm.

 

Education Committee reviewed technology to approve school attendance. Principals work closely with the Taunton Police to address crime and violence in the schools.

 

Program Update – The Boys & Girls Club has distributed bus passes to 125 middle school youth to attend Club programs..

 

Neighborhoods – A CDBG Public Hearing to discuss public input on next year’s allocation will be held 5/11/04, 6:00 pm, at the MOCD, 45 School St., Taunton.

 

Other:

v     Silver City Galleria is the first mall in the country to be part of the Amber Alert program.

v     The first phase to address the target neighborhood is underway. Police presence during late evening/early morning hours had positive results. Residents are thankful for their presence.

v     Job for Youth “graduation” will be held at the Office of the Attorney General on May 5.

v     Taunton Police trial lockdown at Bristol-Plymouth High School was successful.

v     Regional Task Force – Mayor Nunes will meet the DEA and Taunton Police to assign a Taunton Police officer to the Task Force.

 

Next Meeting: 5/26/04, 8:00, Fairfax Gardens Community Room.

 

Contact Person: Robert Cammarata, 508-821-1420

 

Discussion Highlights:

St. Vincent de Paul has been busy due to growing demands for assistance.

 

Early Head Start/Associates for Human Services distributed rolodex cards to committee members who might refer families.

 

GTHHSC – For complete minutes, see pages 5 & 6 of this issue.

 

Department of Human Services has been overwhelmed with new requests for assistance. The first half of FEMA money is nearly used up. They will request the second half.

 

American Red Cross – St. Vincent de Paul discussed the proposal to enter into an agreement with the Red Cross for Disaster procedures. They discussed past experience and current location of the Red Cross, and decided not to pursue it so they can continue to provide quick response to Taunton families.

 

Taunton Emergency Management will reapply for a 3^rd grant to offer another Community Response Training class in the fall.

 

United Way had a successful food drive in March. They were thanked for their food support, especially since other resources have declined.

 

Next Meeting: 6/1/04, 9:30, TEMA Office.

 

Contact Person: Millie Burrows, 508-880-0202.