WWW.leadinghealthycommunities.com (LHC), an interactive, community-based website, presents visitors with a searchable database of case studies that successfully address a community health need and provides the tools to help them replicate it locally.  LHC organizers have identified the Metta Health Center of Lowell Community Health Center (LCHC) as an example of excellence in the community health improvement field. 

At an awards ceremony held in Phoenix on January 21st, Lowell Community Health Center (LCHC) was recognized for its outstanding efforts to address health disparities that impact Lowell ’s Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese residents.  LCHC’s Metta Health Center , located on Jackson Street, was one of six organizations nationally recognized as a finalist for the sixteenth annual Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award.  Premier Inc. is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States, dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Established by the Lowell Community Health Center in 2000, the Metta Health Center seeks to ease the impact of chronic illnesses like diabetes and the burden of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms in an environment that blends Western primary and mental healthcare and Eastern traditional healing and alternative medicine.

To reduce language issues, all signs and literature within the center are written in English, Laotian and Khmer—and trained medical interpreters are readily available. With collaboration with the Cambodian Community Health 2010 Program, now called Southeast Asian Resources for Culture and Health program or SEARCH, through a culturally-sensitive case management approach to care, diabetes patients served by the Metta Health Center have experienced long-term improvements in their blood sugar levels, and there have been marked improvements in those suffering from depression and post traumatic stress disorder. 

Dorcas Grigg-Saito, CEO of Lowell Community Health Center, said “By offering specialized care at our Metta Health Center , we have experienced a significant increase in the number of Southeast Asian patients whom we serve each year. As a result, we are now witnessing a healthy decline in the impact of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease within this segment of our community.” 

 

The Cares Award, sponsored by Premier Inc. and its member hospitals, honors exemplary efforts by not-for-profit organizations to improve access to healthcare for the underserved.  As one of only six finalists nationwide for the 2008 Premier Cares Award, LCHC will receive a cash grant of $24,000 to support its operations.  Metta Health Center was also a finalist in 2007.  In addition, LCHC’s Metta Health Center will be featured on Leading Healthy Communities (LHC), an interactive, community-based website, as an outstanding example of excellence in the field of community health improvement.

  

For more information, contact:                                                                                                                      

Dorcas Grigg-Saito, CEO
Lowell Community Health Center
Lowell , Massachusetts

dorcasgr@lchealth.org
http://www.lchealth.org 

P: 978-746-7851