Salem State University and the Lynn Food Security Task Force are among several North Shore organizations to benefit from nearly $3 million of the $50 million in community mental-health and educational grants awarded by Mass General Brigham in October.
Programs developed by Salem State University School of Social Work, the City of Lynn’s Food Security Task Force, Lynn Community Health Center, My Brother’s Table in Lynn, Greater Lynn Senior Services (GLSS) and North Shore Community Health will receive funds and support to improve nutrition security, mental health, equity, chronic-disease management and workforce development.
Anne Klibanski, president and CEO of Mass General Brigham, said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic magnified food insecurity and mental-health crises throughout the North Shore. She said these organizations will help to raise awareness to fight inequities in health care.
“The pandemic shined a light on long-standing barriers and inequities in health care,” said Klibanski. “This new community-health strategy will address mental health, chronic disease, and food and nutrition insecurity and directly benefit patients and families on the North Shore.”
The Lynn Food Security Task Force, composed of 14 Lynn organizations including Lynn Community Health Center, My Brother’s Table and Greater Lynn Senior Services, will receive $1.85 million.
The Lynn Food Security Force will use the funding to create a one-stop resource that addresses key social determinants of health-related nutrition and a first-of-its-kind data center related to food security. The facility will be centrally located in downtown Lynn, where individuals and families can access healthy food and nutrition support on foot or by car.
Capital funds will also go to My Brother’s Table, which will use the grant to renovate its dining-services facility to improve service and offer alternative meal choices and nutritional coaching that align with guests’ medical needs.
Additionally, the Phoenix Food Hub will include a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen, food distribution, meal delivery, healthy cooking classes and other culturally sensitive support services for the community.
Lynn Mayor Thomas M. McGee said he is pleased with the new funding from Mass General Brigham, and that it will help address hunger within the city.
“The grant funding from Mass General Brigham will be transformational for families who experience hunger and insufficient nutrition in our city,’ said McGee. “We have an extraordinary team that has been working diligently behind the scenes in planning this project and will now have the resources to make it a reality.”
Salem State University will receive a $300,000 grant.
SSU will provide scholarships to students in the university’s healthcare studies, occupational-therapy and social-work programs who are completing behavioral-health internships and fieldwork in Massachusetts. Scholarships of $2,000 will be provided to approximately 140 students, to help ease the pathway to graduating with firsthand experience in the behavioral-health field.
Salem State University President John D. Keenan said that the grant will help to address the shortage of behavioral-health-care workers, and help students and alumni prepare for careers in these fields.
“Through this new and innovative partnership, we will join a consortium of educational organizations that are committed to addressing the behavioral-health workforce shortage,” said Keenan. “Our alumni serve the North Shore and beyond in countless ways, and these scholarships will help to build on this service in an area of great need.
In addition to the funding towards Salem State University and Lynn, $500,000 has been awarded to North Shore Community Health (NSCH), to enable the expansion of clinical space at the Peabody Family Health Center, to include a walk-in, urgent-care clinic. Funding will also support the implementation of the Epic electronic health record that will better connect NSCH clinicians with affiliated hospitals and care providers.
Margaret Brennan, president and CEO of NSCH, said that the expansion of urgent and electronic care will help provide better access to a patient’s health.
“Having the Epic system in place will promote stronger collaboration and communication with our hospital partners,” said Brennan, “Our patients will have easier access to their medical records and be able to connect directly with their care teams.”