Outreach in Action

Chelsea Hospital extends beyond brick and mortar to assist with community needs

by Jo Mayer and Paul Crandall

It used to be, when we thought of Chelsea Hospital, we visualized the building, the emergency room, and the talented people—many from our school district—providing medical care. It was always a comforting thought. But recently, we’re realizing just how much the hospital’s footprint in our community has grown over the years—by leaps and bounds. In large part, this growth has occurred through a partnership with Stockbridge Community Outreach.

One enduring aspect of that investment: The hospital staff’s enthusiastic involvement in the Outreach Adopt-a-Family program. Each holiday season, for decades, members of Chelsea Hospital’s staff have adopted many of our client families, cheerfully bringing a truckload of wrapped presents year after year.  During the Christmas 2022 season, they adopted 15 households, with a combined total of 51 individuals receiving gifts.

Another hospital investment in our community: Initiating the fare-free Stockbridge/Manchester W.A.V.E. bus service.  The service helps fill a big transportation void by driving people from the Stockbridge area to Chelsea, using a mix of pick-up locations and door-to-door service. For more info on how to access this service or reserve a ride, call (734) 475-9494, Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. or visit www.ridethewavebus.org/scio-township.html.

Perhaps the hospital’s most significant initiative has been the hospital’s financial support to Outreach to help fund our operations over the past six years. This has amounted to an astounding $264,000 since 2016 to help pay for our space, staff, and phone and computer connections. The support has led to more robust services. Having our basic needs covered means we can focus on helping our neighbors tackle theirs.

Reiley Curran, MPH, a community health improvement manager for the hospital, explains the hospital’s funding rationale: “As a not-for-profit hospital, in addition to excellent medical care, we reinvest profits into the communities we serve through programs that assist the poor and uninsured, manage chronic conditions like diabetes, provide health education, reach out to the elderly, and address mental health and substance abuse challenges. Stockbridge Community Outreach is one of our partners in serving those needs.”

To help identify and address the most pressing health concerns, Chelsea Hospital conducts a community needs health assessment every three years and then works with other agencies to help meet the community’s needs.  The W.A.V.E. bus, for example, is one outcome of that analysis.

Curran shared three priority areas identified by data from the most recent assessment, which was conducted in 2021:

• Mental health and substance use disorders
• Obesity and related illnesses
• Preconceptual and perinatal health

The hospital’s assessment also looks at social determinants of health, such as poverty or lack of access to healthy food.

“Because Chelsea Hospital covered 100% of our operating costs in 2022, we were able to funnel 100% of our donations to directly helping our clients,” said Stockbridge Community Outreach Director Gwen Reid.

Reid said one especially notable result of that support enabled Outreach to distribute $36,000 in utility support in 2022.

There’s more. Thanks, in part, to the hospital’s support, in 2022 Outreach offered the following initiatives that impacted the community directly:

• A weekly food drive-through at Outreach: 3,325 households
• Monthly pantry shopping for food and personal care supplies: 606 families
• Monthly curbside food distribution in the Jeruel Baptist Church parking lot: 150 boxes/month
• Clothing room with free gently used clothing and household goods: 723 visits
• Rent eviction support: 12 households
• Medications: 3 people
• Consults and referrals for government assistance, medical, and mental health needs: 42
• Gas vouchers for medical appointments: 85
• Tide-Me-Over weekend food for school kids: 82 kids/week
• Holiday Meals, Adopt-a-family program, and Christmas shopping room: 124 families
• Bombas sock distribution: Over 700 pair

Moreover, Outreach signed up 96 new families in 2022. “That’s huge,” said Reid.

As important as the hospital’s partnership with Outreach is, its impact in our community extends further, with many other services and connections, including behavioral health services, health education classes, catering and food services, and the support of SRSLY Stockbridge, to name a few.

Bricks and beds, sure, but additional efforts like those noted here help make Chelsea Hospital a truly invaluable community partner.

Chelsea Hospital Staff with Stockbridge Community Outreach staff after unloading donated gifts for Outreach’s Adopt-a-Family 2022 program. Photo credit: Jo Mayer