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Improving child and community health

Boston Children’s’ strategy is to:

  1. Address the most pressing health needs of children and families
  2. Offer programs that can lead to improvements in health outcomes
  3. Build the capacity of others in the community to meet the needs of children and families

A few of the hospital's signature programs — to address asthma, obesity, and mental and behavioral health — are described below.
 

Girl blows into device to measure asthma

The Community Asthma Initiative (CAI)

The Community Asthma Initiative (CAI) has helped to improve the health of Boston children with asthma. It provides case-management services, offers home visits, educates caregivers, distributes asthma control supplies and connects families to local resources. The program has reduced the percentage of patients with any asthma-related hospitalizations, emergency department visits, missed schools days and work days for patients/caregivers. Find out more here.
 

Woman reads to students sitting on the floor

Boston Children’s Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships Program (BCHNP)

Boston Children’s Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships Program (BCHNP) is the hospital’s community-based behavioral health program. BCHNP places clinicians in Boston schools and community health centers to provide a comprehensive array of services to better meet the needs of children and adolescents. More than 1,000 students receive school-based services each year and thousands of hours of consultation is provided to school staff and families on social, emotional and behavioral health. Learn more here.
 

Children play in playground

Healthy in the City

Healthy in the City is a community-based approach to addressing obesity by offering prevention and intervention strategies to support children and youth who are overweight or obese in making healthier choices and behavior changes. Healthy in the City supports 11 Boston community health centers to provide almost 1,100 children annually with case-management support, as well as access to nutrition and physical activity programs. Children participating in the program have reduced their Body Mass Index and have been shown to make behavioral changes such as reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and increasing the amount of time being active.

Partnerships

Boston Children’s has relationships with an array of community partners who provide a voice for the families and neighborhoods they represent. Boston Children’s partners help to ensure that the hospital better understands the needs, uniqueness and strengths that lie within each community. In addition, Boston Children’s has three strategic partners — key entities that form the child health infrastructure in Boston: Boston Public Schools, the Boston Public Health Commission, and Boston community health centers.

Boston Children’s Hospital owns and operates Boston Children's at Martha Eliot, a health center in Jamaica Plain.

Below are the health centers affiliated with Boston Children's Hospital.