As always, we are busy at BCP serving our community and have so many exciting updates to share! We know that the world is moving towards returning to normal and that means something different to each and every one of you. BCP continues to offer daily COVID testing, convenient COVID vaccinations including boosters to our patients and the community, and we are waiting for the under 5 year-old vaccine approval so that we can start vaccinating those who have waited the longest!
We contine to see patients in the office and and are also so excited to be in the community providing education and support to a number of community organizations. We are continuing our movement to change the way healthcare is delivered to all children! These are just a few of the ways we're doing this work.
xo, The BCP Team
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Victoria is one of BCP's amazing patients who always joins BCP Nutritious. In fact, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month, we used her grandmother's champurradas recipe! Victoria is now famous - she was recently interviewed on NPR, All Things Considered, to talk about her experience as a young child during COVID. Check in out here.She did an incredible job and talked about her love of cooking and the time she was able to spend cooking with her grandmother. Victoria is a BCP superstar and we are honored to partner with her and family for her healthcare! |
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A Very Special BCP Patient |
Sneyder is another very special BCP patient who has a number of complex medical issues. Sneyder recently started school and because of BCP's close relationship with his family (BCP is considered part of his family), his mother had to send his pediatrician his first day of school picture right away! His mom has not been able to work due to his complex medical issues and so it has made it difficult for their family to make ends meet. At BCP, we take care of the whole family and our care navigation team has been working closely with the family to make sure they are getting all the support available to them! In addition, we continue to provide food, hygiene products, and diapers at every visit. We love seeing Sneyder thriving at school! |
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BCP met this incredible Spanish-speaking family when Mom gave birth to twins and soon after arrived at BCP! This family was living doubled up at the time and quickly had to move to a shelter, which BCP's care navigation team helped facilitate.The older children participated in BCP Wellness programs such as tutoring, karate and cooking. Most recently, we worked collaboratively with other social workers to get help this family move into stable housing! We were able to help the family get a new dining room set as well as couches from one of BCP's staff member's friends who no longer needed them. The family is so excited to be in their new home in their lovely living room. Now, this is community! |
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We're Continuing to Vaccinate! |
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We are thrilled to share that BCP's COVID vaccination rates are 61% for ages 5-11 and 81% for ages 12+! This is significantly higher than the city average. We have long thought that our relational approach to healthcare would result in better outcomes, and now we have evidence! We know our commitment to spending time with patients, hearing their concerns, answering their questions about vaccination, and having the vaccine readily available for both patients and adults, has been most important for our success!
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We Continue to Make Mental Health a Priority |
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Our teen group, led by Renee Garand, LICSW, meets bi-weekly to talk about a variety of mental health-related topics. There are so many benefits to group work including validating individual patient feelings, having a safe space to discuss hard topics with supportive peers, and creating community. |
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Above is the result of an incredible group art project. The group was exploring the theme of boundaries and used a collaborative art project to enhance the process. Each person started with their own square and passed it every 10 minutes to another group member to work on. Each person interacted with each other's space in the art and it built from one member to the next. The result is an absolutely gorgeous work of art that we will be hanging at BCP! This is the magic that comes from groups and especially when you have guest facilitators as amazing as Art Therapist Jen Ziefert! |
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Self-care is such an important topic for all of us and there is no better time to start learning about how to incorporate this into your life than when you are a teen. During another session, the group made sensory self care boxes filled with different self care items for each of the 5 senses, along with a personal mantra! We love having this incredible group together at BCP twice a month! |
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Three new staff members have joined the BCP team in recent months. It is so exciting to see our organization grow - as we add more people to our team, our ability to provide for our patients and community expands.
We're delighted to welcome Julissa Lopez, MSW, LCSW, our new part-time, bi-lingual, bi-cultural mental health clinician, Ambika Menon our part-time Staff and Logistics Assistant, and Becca Powell, Development and Administrative Coordinator!
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BCP's stellar staff is what makes our practice so amazing! We love celebrating them for all their hard work, and creating opportunities for staff to spend time together.
Every week during our staff meeting, we have an opportunity to learn a bit about one another. We start off each meeting with a connect question. Last week, we asked our staff, "What is something that you are weirdly good at?". We learned that our staff is multi-talented - we have hair dressers, shelf-hangers, astrologists, and chefs among us!
On Valentine's Day, BCP surprised our staff with chair massages, personalized valentine's cards, and chocolate covered strawberries made by one of BCP's teen patients. On National Employee Appreciation Day, each staff member received new BCP swag - a BCP-branded tumbler!
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We Have Incredible Partners! |
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We are lucky to have partnerships with so many wonderful organizations. Since the start of 2022, we have been able to collaborate with several of these partners to put on many exciting programs for kids and teens. We're thrilled to be able to gather in person for community-based events! |
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The BASE is an urban academy that leverages sports as a vehicle to engage youth in a positive, success-driven culture. We are proud to partner with The BASE to provide wellness programming to their student-athletes.
Over February vacation week, BCP's Director of Wellness and Care Navigation, Paloma Suarez, brought a healthy snack hands-on activity - make your own smoothies - to The BASE. The student-athletes made raspberry and avocado smoothies which were a home run - all the kids loved them!
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Camp Harbor View works with more than 1,000 young Bostonians and their families to offer a one-of-a-kind summer camp for students in grades 6-9, year-round leadership development for students in grades 9-12, and comprehensive family services, including college and career planning, scholarships, and food access — all at no cost to families.
BCP is thrilled to partner with Camp Harbor View this year! Last month, BCP's mental health clinician, Julissa Lopez, was featured on a CHV panel about careers in healthcare. And now that enrollment has started, we will be encouraging our patients to enroll in this amazing summer camp opportunity, while also providing CHV families with COVID vaccines and advice about coping with lingering effects of the pandemic. We were honored to have our partnership with CHV featured in The Boston Foundation's newsletter, and we look forward to working more closely with CHV as the summer quickly approaches!
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Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) |
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) has an incredible youth development program that provides a forum for community learning and engagement for teens. We recently had the privilege of connecting with this fabulous teen group.
In early March, Dr. Riseberg and Renee Garand, LICSW joined IBA's Youth Development Program to play an exciting game of Jeopardy! The topics covered COVID, mental health, how to advocate for oneself with their own clinician, and even some fun questions about pop culture and health! The teens were so engaged and we can't wait to talk with them again soon!
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The BCP Baby Group is a trauma-informed, collaborative, and interactive group for new moms, dads, and babies. Since December 2021, participants have come together monthly to have group visits for all well child appointments, and will continue to do so throughout the baby's first year of life. Each session includes an individual visit with one of our pediatric providers, a hands-on, patient-led activity, and a group discussion! Families get a baby pack that is developmentally appropriate and lunch at each visit. This has been an incredible way for new families to support each other and develop stronger relationships with their providers. Our amazing mental health, care navigation, and medical teams collaborate to create meaningful programming for this group that mirrors the physical and social development of the child. Thank you to our fabulous pediatric providers, Sneha Evans, PNP and Caitlin Woo-Pierce, MD for their thoughtful leadership of BCP's Baby Group! |
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Thank you to all the organizations who were able to join us at Camp Night!
- Camp Harbor View
- Camp Wonderland
- United South End Settlements (USES)
- Phillips Brooks House Association - Keylatch
- St. Stephen's Youth Programs
- Youth Enrichment Services (YES)
Together, these camps represent over 18 summer programs! We are so excited to have so many patients go to camp this summer!
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Equity in pediatrics means that BCP patients have access to not only the best healthcare, but the best summer opportunities. After researching a number of camps around the Boston area with the help of the BCP Brigade (BCP's volunteer group), we held Camp Night, which was a smashing success! We had over 60 patients and their families join us to learn about summer camp opportunities and start registering for camp! We also had several camp representatives onsite to meet BCP families, advertise their camp, answer questions and assist in the registration process. And now we are continuing to work closely with BCP families to help them choose their favorite camp and help them sign up! |
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All patients received a BCP swag bag with a beach towel and a gift card to get ready for the summer! We also had a delicious food truck, Across the Border, serving tacos, burritos, and bowls to all of the attendees.
Thank you to our Care Navigation team, Paloma and Solangel, for coordinating such a fun evening! And thank you to our volunteers who helped with the camp registration process and worked with families to decide which camp option is best for them!
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We are honored to have support from so many incredible funding partners and we recently were awarded a new national grant from the CDC!
Since opening, BCP's work around COVID centers the experiences of populations most impacted by the pandemic, as we aim to vaccinate as many people as we can and educate our community about COVID. The Centers for Disease Control, American Medical Association, and the American College of Preventive Medicine formed a prestigious advisory committee which selected BCP as one of only 15 medical practices throughout the country for funding related to our COVID mitigation efforts.
We also loved being highlighed in the New Commonwealth Fund (NCF) newsletter recently as a grantee. BCP is so honored and proud of the support of prestigious local funders such as NCF and The Boston Foundation.
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We Will (Finally) Celebrate! |
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We are thrilled to share that we will be hosting Cocktails and Celebration: One (PLUS!) Year of Boston Community Pediatrics, on June 2nd, 2022 from 6pm-9:30pm at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter. We welcome our partners, patients, new friends, and community members to celebrate the successes of our first year, and to learn more about what is in store for BCP’s future!
Opening during the pandemic curtailed our ability to share our mission and vision with a broader audience. This event will allow us to introduce BCP to new supporters, and give us an opportunity to celebrate all we have achieved during our first year and a half, while also raising critical funds. We will have a speaking program featuring BCP staff, supporters, and patients, and we can’t wait to see you there!
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BCP's Turkey Giveaway and our First Annual Holiday Shop! |
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With the help of incredible volunteers, donors, and community partners, BCP distributed over 300 Turkeys and dinners to patients for Thanksgiving followed by the pilot of an innovative Holiday Shop this winter. We were given space from our generous neighbor at 88 Wareham, and set up a store where caregivers could 'shop' for their child's holiday gifts, while their children were entertained by volunteers. We had volunteers onsite to wrap the gifts and the Man in the Yellow Hat and Curious George stopped by to read a book! We also had hygiene kits, books, gingerbread houses, fresh fruits and vegetables, and dry goods for families to take home - and the icing on the (holiday!) cake was a food truck to provide lunch and dinner. This event offered caregivers the opportunity to choose their child's gift themselves - because BCP knows that parents are experts in their own children. It was truly an amazing community event! |
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