Family Van gets $20K for community outreach

Banner Staff

Partners HealthCare Community Benefit Programs has provided a $20,000 grant in support of a new public education campaign and the ongoing work of The Family Van, a free health care service center on wheels, in an effort to improve health education and access to health insurance coverage for Boston residents.

The Family Van was founded in 1992 by Dr. Nancy Oriol, a pediatric anesthesiologist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as a unique way to eliminate the barriers between the health care system and communities of color in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury. The van makes weekly trips throughout these three neighborhoods and offers citizens free health care counseling, education and services. An estimated 50,000 people have received services over the years.

“We are delighted to have this support from Partners HealthCare because it enables us to begin a new outreach effort and continue our core services of providing education, testing and counseling on critical health issues such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, nutrition, glaucoma, HIV/STD prevention, prenatal care, reproductive health and oral health,” said Jennifer Bennet, executive director of The Family Van.

Patients do not need appointments, medical insurance or even identification to access The Family Van’s services. All information patients receive comes free of charge, and the information they share is kept private.

According to The Family Van’s Web site, 98 percent of the Van’s patrons are people of color, one-third of whom speak English as a second language, and 53 percent receive government-supported health insurance, while 10 percent are uninsured.

The Family Van collaborates with local community-based programs, governmental agencies and several community health centers, including Mattapan Community Health Center, Uphams Corner Health Center and Whittier Street Health Center, all of which are affiliated with Partners HealthCare.

With the new funding support from Partners, The Family Van will begin a new public education campaign to improve both access to health care and information about healthy behaviors through increased health education and outreach. The funds will also go toward informing Family Van users about new insurance coverage options now available through the state’s new health care reform law, and connecting uninsured and underinsured residents to primary care and specialty care providers in community health centers.

“The Family Van is an important bridge between Boston residents who, for one reason or another, are disconnected from the established health care system,” said Matt Fishman, Partners’ vice president of community health. “For those vulnerable patients, The Family Van offers a link to the excellent primary and specialty care available through community health centers. For patients who have chronic diseases like diabetes, getting connected to the information they need to manage their disease is essential to good health — and to our ability to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health.”

For more information on the Family Van, visit www.familyvan.org, or call Jennifer Bennet at 617-442-3200.