Election Day:
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
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How Your Donation Makes a Difference
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$50
Fill one uninsured patient's tooth
$100
Give one uninsured family nutrition class
$250
Give one uninsured woman mammogram screening
$500
Give one uninsured patient proper medication for one year under our 340B Pharmacy program
$1,000
Take care of one uninsured patient for medical visits at the health center for one year
Please click on "Donate" under
"Quick Links" to make a donation to
South Cove.
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| Photo Credit Margaret Cheung Linda Chu Elena Gonzalez Pamela Lee Lily Moh Angela Ng |
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Dear South Cove Staff, Patients, Supporters and Friends:
Here we are in October, 33 days away from picking a new president. Many, many people around the country have worked very hard trying to get the Asian community registered to vote. Now it is all up to "you" to take the time to go and vote; it is the most important thing you will do this year. Stand up and be counted, VOTE! It is your right, it is your responsibility, but most of all, it is your gift.
Sincerely,
CEO/Executive Director
South Cove Community Health Center
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NIH Study Demonstrates the Effectiveness of Telepsychiatry Implemented at SCCHC
South Cove Behavioral Health Patients Benefit from a New Form of Mental Health Care Delivery
South Cove Community Health Center was the primary community recruitment site of a study funded/supported by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and conducted by Dr. Albert Yeung, Co-Medical Director and Behavioral Health department head, who is also on staff at Massachusetts General Hospital's Depression Clinical and Research Program.
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a telepsychiatry based culturally sensitive collaborative treatment (TCSCT) intervention to improve treatment outcomes for depressed Chinese Americans. After 3 years of recruiting, screening, treatment and following up on patients, the data collected and analyzed gave a definitively positive result, which can be used as stepping stone for further expanded studies and/or for disseminating TCSCT to larger populations. Dr. Yeung, the principal investigator, and his team are truly ahead of the curve in what could be the future of mental health care delivery in communities facing shortages in qualified mental health care providers. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized controlled trial on the use of a telepsychiatry based collaborative treatment targeting Asian Americans, specifically Chinese American patients in primary care.
South Cove is extremely proud of Dr. Yeung's work, both as a leading researcher in the field of depression and as the head of the Behavioral Health department.
Highlights of the published paper:
- Ethnic minorities face both practical and cultural barriers to mental health care, a problem that is prominent for the growing population of Chinese Americans, particularly recent immigrants who frequently hold stigmatizing beliefs regarding psychiatric illness, lack the resources to seek help, and encounter language barriers in the medical care system. Addressing this issue, a collaborative model was proposed where primary care physicians and psychiatrists work together to provide interventions for patients with depression.
- To improve recognition and treatment engagement of depressed patients from diverse cultural backgrounds, our team designed an innovative program, the culturally sensitive collaborative treatment (CSCT) model for depression. CSCT adds a cultural component to the collaborative care model by incorporating a culturally sensitive psychiatric consultation using the Engagement Interview Protocol (EIP), a semi-structured interview instrument designed to elicit patients' illness narratives, systematically assess illness beliefs, and introduce depression treatment in a way that is compatible with their belief systems.
- The telepsychiatry based CSCT (TCSCT) program adds teleconferencing technology to the CSCT program. The goal of TCSCT is to increase capacity to provide culturally sensitive psychiatric consultation to clinics lacking access to mental health clinicians with the language or cultural expertise to serve ethnic minority patients. In the study, videoconferencing equipment was installed at recruitment sites in primary care clinics and then connected to consulting psychiatrists at a remote hospital using a wired network.
- During the 42-month recruitment period (2/1/09-7/31/12), 24,181 patients who visited South Cove primary care clinics completed a bilingual (Chinese/English) questionnaire designed to screen for MDD (Major Depressive Disorder), of whom 950 (3.9%) screened positive. Among these, 520 (55%) declined psychiatric interview, 111 (12%) were receiving treatment for MDD, and 78 (8%) were ineligible based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. The remaining 241 (25%) were enrolled. Of these, 190 were confirmed to have MDD and were randomized, 93 (49%) to the intervention group and 97 (51%) to the TAU (Treatment As Usual) group.
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Instruments used for Cultural Consultation and Outcome Assessments:
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EIP: The Engagement Interview Protocol (EIP) for cultural consultation. It is a semi-structured interview protocol used to explore patients' illness beliefs, assess medical and psychiatric history, and gather information regarding psychosocial background factors to facilitate the discussion of psychiatric diagnosis in a culturally sensitive manner, with the goal of improving engagement of patients in psychiatric treatment.
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HDRS17: The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS ) is the most widely studied clinician administered instrument for quantifying the degree of depressive symptoms, and it has demonstrated high reliability and validity.
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CGIS and CGII: the Clinical Global Impressions Severity of Illness (CGIS) and Improvement (CGII) questionnaires are completed by the clinician based on assessment of the patient's clinical status and are used to rate the severity of the disorder and the global improvement as compared to the beginning of the study.
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QLESQ: Patients were administered the Chinese-translated version of the "
short" form of the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (QLESQ) with higher scores representing better quality of life.
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The data were analyzed following the completion of the study from 2012 through 2014.
Univariate analysis showed that patients in the TCSCT group displayed significantly greater improvement in depressive symptoms compared to patients who received TAU.
- Our study demonstrated that TCSCT is an effective way to deliver culturally sensitive collaborative care to depressed Chinese American immigrants. It also greatly increases the potential for disseminating CSCT by overcoming the barriers of a tremendous shortage in bilingual and bi-cultural clinicians in many areas of the country. The use of video-conferencing for psychiatric consultations eliminates the requirement of geographical proximity between patients and clinicians for the delivery of mental health care.
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South Cove Welcomes New Providers
New Additions Give More Depth in Adult Medicine, Pediatrics, Gyn, Behavioral Health and Dental
South Cove is pleased to announce that we have added many new providers to our team.
Family Medicine
Kevin Hui: Dr. Hui is our latest addition to the Adult Medicine and the Pediatrics departments. Specializing in Family Medicine, he will be dividing his time between the two. He received his MD degree from Brown University and completed his residency at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas. He is proficient in Cantonese, conversational in Mandarin and also knows a little Spanish.
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| Dr. Kevin Hui |
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Dr. Hui was born and raised in Massachusetts and remembers spending a lot of time in Chinatown as a kid, whether it was going to church at Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, volunteering as a summer camp counselor at Project Destiny, or playing basketball at the Chinatown YMCA even when it was just a bubble.
Dr. Hui is very excited to be returning to Boston (especially Chinatown) after spending the last few years in rural Texas, near the Mexican border, where there is no real Chinese food! In his spare time, he hopes to eat good food, play strategy games, and cheer on the local Boston sports teams.
Dr. Hui has always wanted to be a Family Doctor serving Chinese patients and is very thankful to have the opportunity to live out this dream here at South Cove.
Xiaojuan Zheng: Dr. Zheng, who goes by Joy, received her MD degree at the University of Florida and completed her Family Medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania this past May.
She chose Family Medicine because it allows her to "do out-patient procedures for Gyn and Adult Medicine," explained Dr. Zheng, "I also like the variety and taking care of everyone in the family," she added.
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Dr. Xiaojuan Zheng
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As for choosing South Cove, Dr. Zheng credited Dr. Lucy Chie, the Ob/Gyn Department head, who interviewed her and took her to Dim-Sum and subsequently won her over!
Dr. Zheng was born and raised in the province of Jiangsu, China until 9 years of age when she moved to the US. She learned English but retained her native tongue: Mandarin, and speaks it fluently. In addition to English and Mandarin, she is at beginner level in Spanish and Russian, and aspires to learn Cantonese. Outside of her trade as a physician, she is self-described as "obsessed with photography," and has already volunteered to be South Cove's photographer at health-center events! She also enjoys painting and baking, she even owned a bake shop in college!
Behavioral Health
Mental health issues among Asians are not any less common and yet they are less likely to seek help due to stigma, culture and language barriers. Under the leadership of Dr. Albert Yeung, the BH department has worked tirelessly to alleviate the stigma and encourage people to seek help by integrating with primary care. But we cannot serve their needs well if there is no adequate staffing; we are glad that the recruiting effort, which has been ongoing for years to attract like-minded quality providers, has finally see fruition. The department is thrilled to have a trio of new providers joining the team: Alison Tam, MD, Yun Wang, PsyD and Danielle Joyce, NP.
Alison Tam is a graduate of the Florida State University College of Medicine; she completed her residency at the Boston Medical Center through the Community Psychiatry Fellowship program. She currently works at Boston Medical Center as an attending psychiatrist
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Dr. Alison Tam |
and is also on staff as an outpatient psychiatrist at the Uphams Corner Community Health Center. Dr. Tam came highly recommended and has achieved much accolades: she has consulted with East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, worked on a QI project with Tewksbury Hospital and did research at BMC's Geriatric Ambulatory Clinic to assess physician and patient attitudes about polypharmacy and its impact on patients as well as on the clinic. South Cove is fortunate to have secured her services through a contract with BMC. Dr. Tam will do 4 sessions/2 days/week to serve our community.
Yun (San) Wang is a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) from William James College (formerly Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology). Upon earning her degree, she started at South Cove as a Behavioral Health Clinician/Psychology Fellow. After completing the mandatory supervised professional experience (SPE) required by the Commonwealth, she recently became a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts.
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Yun Wang, PsyD
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San is now a fully licensed clinical psychologist and sees a wide range of patients in her new capacity. She is proficient in Fujianese, Cantonese, and some Mandarin, language skills that are truly valuable to the health center and its patients. San hopes to aid in the efforts in overcoming mental health stigma and to provide culturally sensitive support to the local community. In her free time, San enjoys spending time with friends and family, reading, watching movies, and trying new restaurants!
Danielle Joyce graduated from Boston College with a Master of Science in Nursing specializing in psychiatry/mental health. Before completing her MS degree, she had worked at as staff registered nurse at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital.
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Danielle Joyce, NP
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Her goal at South Cove is to help decrease the stigma related to mental illness and to help people become mentally well. In her spare time she enjoys cooking and spending time with friends & families, she also would love to travel as often as her schedule allows.
"We are very fortunate to have talented young clinicians coming on board to join our mission. They allow us to satisfy the increasing need for mental health services for the underserved populations that South Cove serves. South Cove continues to have one of the largest behavioral teams in town targeting Asian Americans," remarked Dr. Albert Yeung.
Dental
Weiji (Windy)
Feng is a newly hired dental hygienist but she certainly is not new to South Cove and the dental staff. Windy has been working at South Cove for the past 8 years as a dental assistant. She enjoyed being an assistant to the dentists because it is a vital part of the dental care delivery; she described the role as an
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| Weiji Feng, DH |
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important part of a machine and without it, the machine would not work nearly as smoothly. Furthermore, by assisting dentists, she was also helping patients. But after a few years, she wanted to try another approach serving the community and decided to become a dental hygienist. So she went back to school and after two strenuous years, emerged as a licensed dental hygienist! She is thriving in her new role, one that is also vital and an integral part of South Cove's dental services. Being a provider, however, is so much more different, she remarked, because "there are so many more responsibilities to attend to and deeper interactions with patients. Whether I am a dental assistant or a dental hygienist, there is the enjoyment of serving the community. It is my pleasure to do so."
Windy's story is truly inspirational, and South Cove as her employer and extended family couldn't be happier for her!
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In the Community
South Cove Humbled by Shared Honor with Amy Guen
On Friday, September 30, 2016, the Chinese Historical Society of New England hosted its Annual Meeting & Dinner in Chinatown, Boston. South Cove Community Health Center was honored to be the co-recipient of the Sojourner Award, but the greater honor was sharing the award with life-time community activist and advocate: Amy Guen.
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L-R: Nelson Liu, SCCHC Board President, Amy Guen and
Eugene Welch, SCCHC Executive Director
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In her long list of accomplishments, one of which was helping start a task force to address the lack of access to medical care in Boston Chinatown in the late 1960's. The same task force later wrote for a grant and received funding to start a community health center in 1972: the Boston Chinese Community Health Services, Inc., and what is known today as the South Cove Community Health Center. Mrs. Guen participated in the task force, helped found the health center with her name on the Certificate of Incorporation and served on the health center board in its early years. Today, more than four decades later, at this joyous occasion, we are so honored and humbled to be standing alongside her for the special recognition.
Wollaston Elder Awareness Community Fair
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| SCCHC booth at the fair |
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The 9th Elder Awareness Community Fair hosted by the Wollaston Senior Center took place on Friday, September 30, 2016. South Cove was one of the many community organizations that participated in the fair, attended by hundreds of elders. South Cove has been a long time supporter of the Asian American Services Association, Inc., in Quincy that operates the Wollaston Senior Center. The health center also serves a large number of elders and is committed to making resources available to them by working with different health plan providers that cater exclusively to seniors and their needs.
BCNC Oak Street Fair
Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center's Annual Oak Street Fair has always been a special and fun day for children and families in Chinatown, this year's 31st edition was no different! The fair offered family-centered, kid-friendly activities to the community including face painting, food, arts and crafts, and featured its highly popular watermelon eating contest. South Cove was proud to be both a sponsor and a participant in the fair, working in conjunction with its WIC/Nutrition department, to reach out to families and children to promote healthy living!
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SCCHC & WIC/Nutrition outreach booth
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August Moon Festival
Mooncakes, lion dance, Asian arts and crafts are just a few staples of the August Moon Festival - considered by many in China as the second most important holiday after the Chinese New Year. Here at South Cove, celebrating the August Moon is also a long-running tradition as the health center has sponsored and participated in both the Boston and Quincy festivals for many years!
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SCCHC staff at the Chinatown August Moon Festival
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Nelson Liu and Eugene Welch give welcoming remarks at the Quincy August Moon Festival
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SCCHC booth at the Quincy August Moon Festival
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This year's August Moon Festival in Boston's Chinatown took place on Sunday, August 14, 2016 on a sweltering day. But high temperature and humidity did not deter people from venturing out to join one of the signature events of Chinatown.
Entering its 47th anniversary this year, the festival was organized and put together by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.
South Cove WIC/Nutrition Director Zhanglin Kong delivered welcoming remarks on behalf of the health center.
South Cove's booth featured informational brochures, services and plenty of giveaways as well as many staff members to introduce
South Cove to the community and answer questions.
The 29th Annual Quincy August Moon Festival took place the following Sunday. Organized and hosted by the Quincy Asian Resources, Inc., this year's festival returned to the MBTA North Quincy parking lot where it once was, for those who had attended the festivals at the same parking lot many years ago, the feeling of nostalgia was ever so present.
Eugene Welch and South Cove Board President Nelson Liu greeted and welcomed everyone to the festival on behalf of South Cove as the Presenting Sponsor.
The August Moon Festival in both Boston and Quincy is not only a celebration of a Chinese holiday, but also a celebration of the diversity of Asian cultures. South Cove is proud of its partnership with both the CCBA and QARI, we thank them for all the hard work that led to the success of the festivals.
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About Us
About South Cove Community Health Center:
Founded in 1972, South Cove is dedicated to improving the health and well being of all medically underserved in Massachusetts with a special focus on Asian Americans. This mission is accomplished by providing high quality, community-based health care and health promotion programs which are accessible, linguistically and culturally competent for these populations.
Services:
Adult Medicine (成人科) Bone Density (骨質篩檢) Ob/Gyn (婦科) Mammography (X光乳房攝影篩檢) Pediatrics (兒科)
Podiatry (足科
) Neurology (神經科
) Dentistry (牙科) Optometry (眼科) Member Services (會員服務) Nutrition/WIC (營養科/奶卷) Family Planning (家庭計劃) 340B Pharmacy (
藥房
) Early Intervention (幼兒培育組) Behavioral Health (行為健康科) Brighton/Allston After-School Enrichment Program (課餘活動中心)
Clinic Locations:
885 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02111
Tel: 617-482-7555
145 South Street, Boston, MA 02111
Tel: 617-521-6730
435 Hancock Street, Quincy, MA 02171
Tel: 617-318-3300
88 Holmes Street, Quincy, MA 02171
Tel: 617-318-3200
Brighton/Allston After-School Enrichment Program:
640 Washington Street, Brighton, MA 02135
Tel: 617-787-1087
Website:
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