Sep 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
“When Leonardo started the program, he was non-verbal and using sign language to communicate his needs,” recounts ParentChild+ mentor Lindsay Tillou. “Working with him and his parents, he made steady progress…
Sep 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
“When I saw this opportunity to earn an income, learn a new skill set, and put me on a career track in the medical field, I knew this was the right program for me. It gives me a chance to get my foot in the door as a Medical Assistant…
Sep 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
The value of mobile health inour community Between July 2023 and July 2024, CHP’s Mobile Health team criss-crossed the county, holding 503 clinics at town halls, fire stations, libraries, senior housing, shelters, public events, and parks. Accessibility: Not everyone...
Sep 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
In the rural healthcare landscape around the U.S., community health centers like ours face unique challenges in recruiting qualified professionals for patient care positions. We compete with urban and suburban regions where healthcare education and jobs tend to...
Sep 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
CHP’s promise to provide quality care to those who need it involves not only providing them with health services but also guaranteeing that insurance coverage or payment aren’t barriers to accessing care.
Sep 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
CHP’s Mobile Dental Clinic CHP stands out as a dental care provider for children. For pediatric patients with MassHealth insurance, it has become increasingly difficult to find a dentist.CHP dental practices are one of only two dental groups in the...
Jun 25, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece, Uncategorized
Sunshine and the outdoors are great for your health, but if you’re gardening, hitting the beach, hiking through nature trails, or simply relaxing in your backyard, the summer carries some risks that call for proactive summer health precautions.
Jun 6, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
For nearly 50 years, CHP has grown and deepened its reach throughout the Berkshires by paying attention to gaps in healthcare services. We listen to our patients, healthcare peers and community partners, and we ask: How can we help fill the cracks?
Jun 5, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
With Adams Family Dental now open, North County residents have access to a state-of-the-art dental practice that was designed with the patient’s experience in mind. “We know it is common to experience anxiety and stress at the dentist’s office, so we created a space...
Jun 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
A Q&A with CHP Size-Inclusive Care Coordinator Annie Schwartz Annie Schwartz, MS RDN LDN, is a clinical nutritionist and Size-Inclusive Care coordinator. Along with the CHP Size-Inclusive Care Committee, she is passionate about making health care inclusive and...
Jun 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
School readiness programs visit Hancock Shaker Village and more For the first time since Covid, CHP’s school readiness programs returned to see the baby animals at Hancock Shaker Village. Experiences like these are part of the ParentChild+ and Play & Learn...
Jun 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
CHP Mobile Health is now offering same-day care whenever our mobile teams are on the road. Mobile same-day care helps bridge the gap between traditional medical care and costly emergency room visits. Easy access is even more important in a rural region like ours,...
Jun 4, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
With Group Health Visits, “community” is a vital ingredient for wellness. For people living with certain chronic conditions, the support of fellow patients can be key to building healthy lifestyle habits.
Jun 3, 2024 | News, Newsletter Piece
In March, CHP published its first Impact Report—a review of the many ways your contributions made a difference in our community. If you did not receive the 2023 Impact Report in the mail, you can download it from our website.
Oct 27, 2023 | News, Newsletter Piece
CHP primary care clinicians Lisa Nelson, MD, and Laura Gariepy, FNP CHP is growing its Group Medical programs! Led weekly by our primary care clinicians and community partners, Group Medical Visits gather together CHP patients (and others) with common health...
Oct 27, 2023 | News, Newsletter Piece
Jeanne Bassis has built a career helping children and adults experience play, an essential ingredient for a healthy life. Each week, Jeanne brings lightly structured and free play to two CHP playgroups.
Oct 27, 2023 | News, Newsletter Piece
As summer turns to fall and the air grows crisp, I’m grateful each day to be settling into my new home here in the Berkshires. My early weeks at CHP have been spent meeting our team, community leaders, and members and learning about all that makes CHP special.
Oct 27, 2023 | News, Newsletter Piece
With a newly improved Lee Family Practice site and dental practice locations set to open in 2024, CHP is making strides to fill gaps in our region’s health care.
Oct 27, 2023 | News, Newsletter Piece
CHP Partners with local farms to distribute nutritious food. If nutrition is the doorway to better health, access to healthy food is the first step inside. Our Family Services and Nutrition teams are at the forefront of food security and healthy nutrition. Through...
Jun 12, 2023 | Newsletter Piece
As a longtime patient of CHP Lee Family Practice, Sarah K. of Otis was confident in choosing Barrington OB/GYN (BOG) for her obstetric care when she became pregnant with her first baby. In particular, she sought out Dr. Jill Samale. With Dr. Samale and the BOG team,...
Jun 12, 2023 | Newsletter Piece
This year, we are doubling down on mobile health, a staple of CHP care since the 1970s. Back then, a local doctor and some nurses drove around our rural back roads looking for signs of young children who might need medical care—the origins of CHP. Today, our...
Jun 12, 2023 | Newsletter Piece
For a victim of sexual or domestic violence, confiding in a medical professional might feel safer than calling a domestic abuse hotline. CHP Berkshires and the Elizabeth Freeman Center have partnered to create the One Door Project to care for victims who need both...
Jun 12, 2023 | Newsletter Piece
Reasons to Give to CHP Berkshires CHP Berkshires relies on you—our friends and neighbors—to support many programs not reimbursed by insurance or other revenue, particularly our Family Services programs. Family Services supports parents, children, and families through...
Nov 9, 2022 | News, Newsletter Piece
At CHP, sometimes, our work isn’t done when the exam is over. Some patients need extra support to achieve better health and wellness. As Care Coordinator at CHP Great Barrington Health Center, Kornelia Krzyzanowska, RN, BSN, is focused on making sure children in...
Nov 9, 2022 | News, Newsletter Piece
When Matt and Missy Scarafoni consider their community giving, they ask, “What organizations make a wide impact on our Berkshire community? Who is leveling the playing field between those who have more and those who have less?” CHP is on their “A list.” “A lot of...
Nov 8, 2022 | News, Newsletter Piece
By: Rania Markham When my kids were 18 months and three months old, our family signed up for CHP ParentChild+, a home mentoring program for families with young children soon heading to preschool or kindergarten. Each week, a family mentor came to our home to...
Nov 8, 2022 | News, Newsletter Piece
When I was asked in June to become the interim CEO of Community Health Programs, I believed I might bring a unique perspective to overseeing the CHP healthcare networks and family services. As a patient of Lee Family Practice for more than 25 years, I’ve benefitted...
May 23, 2022 | Newsletter Piece
Greetings Friends, Resilience is the capacity to recover from difficulty, the ability to stand up after being knocked down. The past two-plus years have raised hard tests of our resilience. We witnessed and participated in a pandemic crisis that has taken nearly a...
Dec 20, 2021 | News, Newsletter Piece
In mid-2020, a Boston area family relocated to the Southern Berkshires, where they found a rare affordable apartment. At the time, schools were closed to in-person learning, and the family—with five children—had no local connections or support network. Then, through...
Aug 20, 2021 | News, Newsletter Piece
Years ago, the T.P. Saddleblanket shop in Great Barrington hired a young woman, an immigrant from Hong Kong, as a tailor and pattern maker. She was excellent at her job, but English was not her first language. When she needed dental care, she was unsure how to...
Aug 20, 2021 | News, Newsletter Piece
Friends, This summer, we have some important reasons to celebrate, and to thank you for your ongoing financial support for CHP. CHP is on track for in-person services for some of our most important clientele: children and families. Our Family Services facility in...
May 28, 2021 | News, Newsletter Piece
When Jackie Schultz and Jared Brunner and their kids moved to the area several years ago, they had no connections. They lived in an isolated town, cut off from neighbors and other parents. The couple worked opposite job shifts to care for the children, including an...
Feb 8, 2021 | News, Newsletter Piece
Since relocating from North Carolina to Dalton 10 years ago, Mecca Brophy and her family have faced some challenges with job security and health insurance. Through a food bank referral, Mecca found her way to CHP, where health insurance experts assist people in...
Feb 8, 2021 | News, Newsletter Piece
Adrian Van Zon remembers when Community Health Programs was in its early years as Children’s Health Programs, in the 1970s and 80s. He was an early supporter of CHP’s work caring for children, and he was inspired by its visionary early founders. “It was such a useful...
Feb 8, 2021 | News, Newsletter Piece
Friends, On a February day, we can cut branches from a forsythia bush, bring them indoors to a water vase, and watch them blossom into a spray of yellow and the promise of a new season. This month offers another reason for hope: the promise of a shot in the arm. It...
Dec 2, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
With fall well on its way and winter fast approaching, we begin to face some new challenges as the cold weather settles in. Shorter days and lack of sunshine depletes us from natural Vitamin D intake. Staying warm becomes a daily struggle, and trying to keep ourselves...
Nov 10, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
By The Numbers: Late Summer – Early Fall 2020 Snapshot of how we are serving the community 492 COVID-19 tests 996 Flu shots 3,190 TeleHealth visits 5,839 Telephone appointments 2,453 New baby/well-child visits 1,385 Diabetes care 3,199 Hypertension...
Nov 10, 2020 | News, Newsletter Piece
Our Community: Special Deal at Adams Hometown Market: Health Care The Adams Hometown Market has something extra to offer: health care. On Wednesdays from 1-4 p.m., the Adams Hometown Market sets aside a parking lot area for BOB, the big orange bus, staffed by CHP...
Nov 10, 2020 | News, Newsletter Piece
Friends, Pandemic fatigue is upon us. Winter is coming and COVID-19 levels are rising in many areas. Many of us are hurting financially and emotionally. We are weary. But we can take care of one another, pull together, and stay the course. We can do the simple work of...
Nov 10, 2020 | News, Newsletter Piece
Housatonic Food Train: Village Food Donation Pick-up Helps Fill CHP Food Shelves On the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month, neighbors in Housatonic village leave groceries outside their doors for pick-up by a Housatonic Food Train volunteer. Vehicles are packed to the...
Nov 10, 2020 | News, Newsletter Piece
Insurance Enrollment Program Expansion CHP has received a grant from the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority (the “Health Connector”) for the Massachusetts Navigator Program. The grant provides $150,000 over two years, and expands CHP’s current...
Nov 10, 2020 | News, Newsletter Piece
Donor Builds a Giving Spirit in her Adopted Community Jane Braus has invested much of her life’s work in supporting and volunteering for causes that inspire her. The Planned Parenthood organization and the United Nations Association have been recipients of her...
Nov 10, 2020 | News, Newsletter Piece
Mary Feuer was recently named CHP Employee of the Year. For 29 years, the assistant director of CHP Family Services has rarely had a day on the job that matched any other. One day, Mary is crawling under CHP’s mobile health unit to adjust the jacks securing the...
Aug 11, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
CHP Group Medical Visits CHP clinicians recently shifted the group medical visit model virtually. Clinicians and participants agree. It may be different, but online health care is a benefit, especially to those with transportation issues or concerns with interacting...
Aug 11, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
CHP partnered with Berkshire Waldorf School CHP partnered with Berkshire Waldorf School in early May for a food drive/distribution at their campus in Great Barrington. School board member, Dan Schaeffer, contacted CHP early during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching out...
Aug 11, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
We have been humbled and heartened. Friends, In recent months, we have been humbled and heartened by COVID-19: humbled by the power of a pandemic to up-end our personal and professional lives. Yet we are heartened by the outpouring of community generosity that has...
Aug 11, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
Donor Spotlight: Carolann Strickling –Organization Ink – A Culture of Caring Once each month, Carolann Strickling heads to the BJ’s store and loads up on food and other items for clients of CHP Family Services. For the past two years, her business —...
Aug 11, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
Mission Moment — Our community… “Community” is at the core of the CHP mission. And now more than ever, our relationship with our community is our “mission moment.” Our mission, “to improve the health of people throughout the Berkshires by delivering exceptional...
Aug 11, 2020 | Newsletter Piece
Gifts & Grants Family Support and Kindergarten Readiness Programming Community Health Programs has received significant support for family services and kindergarten readiness programming from state and local funders. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education...
