The GLHA is excited to announce the release of the first Greater Lowell Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). With a goal to create a long-term strategy to strengthen the area’s health systems, our CHIP will be used as road map for health improvement over a three-year period, guiding the investment of resources of organizations with a stake in improving health for the residents of Lowell and the surrounding communities. Our CHIP mission: to turn data into action and working initiatives to address our community’s top health priorities. While addressing specific health priorities, the overarching goal is always one of health equity, meeting the health needs not just for some, but for all. Learn more about the Greater Lowell CHIP.
Greater Lowell Pride 2018
Greater Lowell Health Alliance 2017 Community Health Initiatives Grant Request For Proposals
The Greater Lowell Health Alliance of CHNA 10 is proud to offer grants for the fall of 2017 to support programs and services to improve the overall health of the Greater Lowell community. The purpose of this RFP is to provide grant funding to increase support for services and programs to better meet the needs of communities in the Greater Lowell area.
All proposals MUST incorporate a plan to meet the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care.
Grants will be awarded around the following health priorities and programs that meet the specific areas of focus identified by the CHIP process.
- Mental Health
- Substance Use and Prevention
- Access to Healthy Food
- Physical Activity
- Asthma
- Social Determinants of Health
Important Dates:
Town of Wilmington: Requests for Proposals on possible Addiction and Counseling Services
The Request for Proposals detailing the services requested may be obtained at the Office of the Town Manager, 121 Glen Road, Wilmington, MA 01887 or by email at wmartiniello@wilmingtonma.gov or at the Town’s website: http//www.wilmingtonma.gov/Pages/WilmingtonMA_purchasing/index.
Proposals will be received at the Office of the Town Manager, 121 Glen Road, Wilmington, MA until 10:00 AM on March 30, 2017. Proposals submitted after this deadline will be rejected. Proposals are subject to the provisions of M.G.L. Chapter 30B as amended to date. The Town of Wilmington specifically reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, or to award or not award the contract for any reason the Town Manager determines to be in the Town’s best interest.
The proposer certifies under penalties of perjury that this proposal has been made and submitted in good faith and without collusion or fraud with any person. As used in this certification, the word “person” shall mean any natural person, business, partnership, corporation, union, committee, club or other organization, entity or group of individuals.
File separately marked “Price” and “Non-Price” proposals marked “Addiction and Family Counseling Services with the Town Manager, Town Hall, Wilmington, MA.
Purchases by the Town of Wilmington are exempt from any Federal, State, Municipal and/or excise tax.
The Town of Wilmington reserves the right to waive any formality and/or to reject any or all proposals or any parts thereof deemed not to be in the best interest of the Town of Wilmington.
Contraception Survey
Students from the University of Massachusetts Lowell are in the initial stages of their Difference Makers project; the development of a contraception app. They are currently conducting a market/needs assessment, and are asking members of the community to participate in their surveymonkey to help them acquire data for their project.
The link to the surveymonkey is provided below. Any participation in this process is greatly appreciated:
Research-Contraception App Survey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GPJ8XBP
GLHA Releases 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment
The Greater Lowell Health Alliance released the 2016 Greater Lowell Community Health Needs Assessment at the GLHA’s 2016 annual meeting on September 28, 2016.
In partnership with the Greater Lowell Health Alliance, Lowell General Hospital in 2016 commissioned researchers and students from the University of
Massachusetts Lowell to conduct a community health needs assessment to identify the unmet medical and public health needs within the Greater Lowell community. The geographic area assessed included the communities of Lowell, Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough and Westford. This assessment involved primary data collection using focus groups and key informant interviews, as well as secondary data sources, such as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health MassCHIP database and the United States Census. Similar studies were conducted in 2010 and 2013.
Foundation for Action
The study had two key objectives. The first was to fulfill state and federal requirements of Lowell General Hospital to conduct a Comprehensive Health Needs Assessment every three years. The second and ultimately more important objective was to generate a study that would provide a foundation for the GLHA and its partners, including Lowell General, to build consensus on the area’s priority health needs and develop action plans to improve the health of the area’s residents.
A Plan for the Future
The study will prove useful in helping to form the Greater Lowell Health Alliance’s long-term agenda and strategy, with a goal to help meet the unmet healthcare needs and strengthen the area’s health system. In the coming year, the focus of the Greater Lowell Health Alliance will be working with the community to develop a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), based on the priority areas identified in the 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment. A CHIP is used as roadmap for health improvement over a three to five-year period and guides the investment of resources of all organizations that have a stake in improving health for the residents of Lowell and the surrounding communities.
The GLHA’s first Community Health Improvement Plan forum—an opportunity to gather insights and input from various members of the community—will be held on Tuesday, November 1st, from 8 a.m. to noon, at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center. All community members are invited.
GLHA Awards $200,000 in Community Health Grants
The Greater Lowell Health Alliance awarded $200,000 in Community Health grants at the Alliance’s 2016 annual meeting.
The September 28 annual meeting was a celebration of the GLHA’s tenth anniversary as a nonprofit organizations dedicated to identifying and addressing the region’s most urgent unmet health needs.
The GLHA is proud to announce the grant awards for the Fall of 2016 to support programs and services to improve the overall health of the Greater Lowell community. Grants were awarded around the following priority areas:
• Mental Health and Mental Disorders
• Substance Abuse (Including Tobacco Use)
• Chronic Disease (e.g. Asthma, Obesity, Diabetes)
• Prevention & Screenings (e.g. Cancer, children’s nutrition)
The GLHA awarded eight grants totaling $200,000 to community-based organizations to address critical health issues in the Greater Lowell area. Below is the list of the 2016 Community Health Initiatives Grant Recipients:
- Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley, Inc.:Greater Lowell Falls Talk
Project – $40,000. To introduce evidence-based falls prevention program, FallScape, to the CHNA 10 communities and expand programs to reach more frail, homebound populations. - Habitat for Humanity of Greater Lowell: Neighborhood Revitalization
Initiative: Building Healthy Places – $10,000. This grant will go towards the renovation portion of their Centralville neighborhood revitalization Initiative. - Lowell Community Health Center: Youth Substance Use Prevention Project – $39,000. To expand ESWG activities to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors among youth through substance abuse prevention education and outreach programming reaching as many as 300 youth through education and community building activities.
- Lowell House Inc.: Community Opioid Outreach Program (COOP) – $21,000. LHI, LPD, Lowell Fire Department and Lowell Health Department collaboration designed to addresses the opiate epidemic in Lowell. The main objective of the Community Opioid Outreach Program (“COOP”) is to conduct proactive outreach to recent overdose victims, as well as their families and connect them to treatment services in the region.
- McCarthy Middle School, Chelmsford: Strengthening Health of Middle School Students– $16,000. Grant funding will go towards three programs designed to strengthen the social and emotional health of middle school students, to reduce the incidence of self-harm and substance use.
- Merrimack Valley Food Bank: Operation Nourish– $10,000. A children’s feeding program in which MCFB partners with several Lowell Public Schools to address the nutritional needs of children who may struggle with hunger.
- Mill City Grows: Farm to School Partnership Expansion – $25,000. To increase healthy habits of Lowell’s students to improve their health outcomes and decrease obesity and diet related illness.
- Tewksbury Police Department: Regional Jail Diversion Program – $39,000. This program is designed to divert individuals with mental illness and substance abuse away from the criminal justice system and toward the appropriate psychiatric, social, and community-based services.
GLHA Announces $200,000 in Community Health Grants
The Greater Lowell Health Alliance of the Community Health Network Area 10 is pleased to offer grants for the Fall of 2016 to support programs and services to improve the overall health of the Greater Lowell community.
Up to $200,000 will be allocated to address critical health issues, with grants of between $10,000 and $100,000.
Applications are due June 24, 2016. Grant recipients will be notified by August 24, 2016.
Grants will be awarded around the following priority areas: mental health and mental disorders; substance abuse (including tobacco use); chronic disease (e.g. asthma, obesity, diabetes); prevention and screenings (e.g. cancer, children’s nutrition).
Grant awards cannot be used to fund capital or overhead expenses.
The Greater Lowell Health Alliance Awards $50,000 in Grants
The Greater Lowell Health Alliance (GLHA) of the Community Health Network Area 10 has awarded six grants totaling $50,000 to community-based organizations to address critical health issues in the Greater Lowell area.
Below is the list of grant recipients:
Lowell House, Inc. – The Prisoner Re-Entry Program (PREP) – $8,000
University of Massachusetts Lowell – I Have a Plan: Delaying Second Pregnancy Among Teen Mothers – $10,000
Coalition for a Better Acre (CBA) – Creating No Smoking Policies and Support – $8,000
Community Teamwork, Inc. (CTI) – Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Education for Homeless Families – $8,000
Circle Home, Inc. – Fall Prevention Program – $8,000
Mill City Grows – MCG Community Programs – $8,000
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito Speaks on Substance Abuse
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Lowell City Councilor Corey Belanger attended the October 6 Substance Use and Prevention Task Force Meeting at the Saints campus of Lowell General Hospital, recognizing the important work the GLHA is doing in addressing the opiate crisis.
Lt. Gov. Polito took a number of questions and had several of her own as part of a wide-ranging discussion about the combined efforts in Greater Lowell to combat opioid abuse, including prevention in our schools and intervention in our communities.
Impressed with the GLHA’s efforts, saying, “I have not seen this level of collaboration” and pledged to share the group’s concerns with the governor and other state officials.
GLHA Releases Important Cancer Disparities Report
Report: Greater Lowell cancer rates higher than statewide
Poor, uninsured, immigrant populations at increased risk
By Grant Welker, gwelker@lowellsun.com
UPDATED: 09/27/2015
WESTFORD — Residents in Greater Lowell have higher cancer rates than the rest of the state, with the highest rates among poorer residents, according to a new report from the Greater Lowell Health Alliance and UMass Lowell.
Improving those rates, officials said Friday, will require better outreach to the poor, minorities, immigrants and people who are underinsured or have no insurance — all segments of the population found to be at higher risk of cancer.
Greater Lowell’s overall cancer death rate is 225 per 100,000 residents, according to the report. The statewide average is 185.
Cancer rates in the Lowell area were highest for lung cancer, at 80 per 100,000 residents. The statewide average for lung cancer is 70.
For someone who works more than one job, doesn’t speak English as a primary language, or faces other cultural factors, having a primary-care physician or following up on medical appointments aren’t always as high of a priority, said David Turcotte, a research professor at UMass Lowell who presented the study’s findings Friday at the Greater Lowell Health Alliance’s annual meeting.
“For those of lower socioeconomic status, health care is a luxury,” he said.
Risk factors are “primarily related” to income levels, the report said, with a “lack of awareness of cancer risk” in some segments of the population.
“Providers, professionals and key informants felt overall that patient perception of cancer in the Lowell area is poor,” the report said, and “that patient perception of care in Boston is better.
“The Lowell area studied includes Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro and Westford. Data are not broken out by individual community.
Recommendations in the report call for increasing awareness, improving access and advocacy for patients, expanding interpreter services, and providing better transportation for those who require it to get to medical appointments.
Members of the Lowell Community Health Center, which serves many lower-income residents, said proper outreach and accommodation of the city’s diverse population are important in making a healthier community.
“We’re talking about cancer specifically, but cultural disparities are across all medical areas,” said Sheila Och, a deputy director at the health center. “We work on health care but we also work on social justice.”
Rates of cancer also differ among races, said Christopher Lathan, a faculty director for cancer-care equity at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston. Minorities tend to get lower levels of care, and the gap between white and black residents has not narrowed in cancer survival, even as overall rates have dropped, he said.
Many black residents see Dana-Farber as “a place where rich white people go to die,” Lathan said. “That’s really disturbing at many levels.”
Read the Lowell Sun article on GLHA’s groundbreaking report on cancer rates and disparities in Greater Lowell.