Category: Health
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Dentistry from the Heart provides free dental care
While Obama Care has made great strides toward providing health insurance for all Americans, many are left without dental insurance and are unable to receive treatment for severe and potentially dangerous dental problems. Charles River Dental in Boston has taken the lead in helping Greater Boston’s uninsured obtain the dental care they need: for the…
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Sox for Socks: Health care professionals and Red Sox Foundation collect thousands of socks for the homeless
Photo: Nathanael King Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program partnered with the Red Sox Foundation to collect 5,100 pairs of socks and $2,100 in their Sox for Socks charity drive at Fenway on June 3-5. BHCHP hands out clean socks to homeless patients in their 60 locations and on the street. Many homeless people…
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Medical Care from a Van: Q & A with Dr. Avik Chatterjee
Dr. Avik Chatterjee, a doctor trained in internal medicine and pediatrics, has been taking care of homeless patients out of a medical van as part of an outreach program at Boston Health Care for the Homeless for the past three years. He works out of the van two days a week, and during his short…
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Dr. Lipi Roy Works to Serve Boston’s Most Overlooked Citizens
A decade ago, Lipi Roy was a second-year medical student at Tulane University in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina breached the levees, flooding the city and changing millions of lives. For Roy, it changed the way she looked at her work as a physician. “That’s when I got a sense of what it means to…
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Food For Free redistributes Harvard’s extra meals
Undergraduate students at Harvard University get to choose from a wide array of sushi, sandwiches, pizza, and more from fourteen different dining halls. With over 6,500 undergraduates eating three meals a day, Harvard goes through a lot of food, some of which inevitably isn’t eaten. “Our goal is to have the same choices at the…
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SPOT-ing Overdoses and Fighting the Opiate Epidemic in the South End
Photo: Henry Zbyszynski Spotting an opiate overdose can be difficult. Someone high on heroin or OxyContin may have difficulty speaking. Their muscles may be slack and may impair normal movement. Or they may “nod out” and seem to be asleep. Overdoses typically cause shallow breathing, loss of consciousness and discoloration of the skin, lips and…
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Lieutenant governor opens women’s substance abuse program at Taunton State Hospital
Photo: WikiCommons Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito unveiled a new program to help women who have been civically committed for drug treatments avoid going to prison earlier this month, Governor Charlie Baker’s office said. Polito and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders and Department of Mental Health Commissioner Joan Mikula opened the new Women’s Recovery from Addictions…
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Health workers vaccinate hundreds after homeless man’s death
Three cases of a bacteria-caused illness among Boston’s homeless—including one that proved fatal—occurred in less than two months, prompting the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program to vaccinate 990 shelter clients and staff workers. The illness, meningococcemia, is not usually the cause of widespread outbreaks among homeless individuals, but health experts note that shelter conditions…
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SOBER GRID: A smartphone app for the recovery community
It’s the day after Sober Grid was released and the new geo-social mobile app’s headquarters in Boston’s Back Bay is abuzz with excitement. “You wouldn’t believe the response we’ve had so far,” emotes Beau Mann, the 33-year-old creator of Sober Grid. “We’ve already had a few thousand downloads and the responses are through the roof.”…
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DRUG WARS: Heroin and opioid addiction is on the rise
Tom Reily stands before Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito and a crowd of hundreds and announces that he is two-and-half-years sober. The crowd responds with a fierce applause and in return Reily smiles. “I was a heroin addict,” Reily, a Boston College graduate, says during the final public hearing of Governor Baker’s opioid…