Community Health Fellow, Boston Public Health Commission, Massachusetts, United States

Placement Organization: Boston Public Health Commission
Placement Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Eligible Citizenship: Non-American

About: The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) is the city’s health department. Our mission is to protect, preserve and promote the health and well-being of Boston residents, particularly those who are most vulnerable. The Commission works with academic medical centers, community health centers, federal and state agencies, and a broad spectrum of community agencies and leaders to plan urban health policy, conduct research related to the health of the city’s neighborhoods, and provide residents with access to health promotion and disease prevention. Core activities include communicable disease surveillance and control, maternal and child health services, substance abuse services, homeless services, environmental health functions, emergency medical services and health data collection. Through community-based health improvement projects in chronic disease prevention and treatment, cancer, infant mortality, elder health and other areas, the Commission is seeking to restructure and transform public health and health care delivery systems to reduce the burden of disease and eliminate racial disparities in health outcomes. One key priority, termed The Overarching Goals, is reducing the gap in health outcomes for obesity, Chlamydia and low birth weight between residents of color and white residents.

Position Overview: As an integral team member, the fellows will work with the Medical Director, Director of Research and Evaluation, and Director of the Community Initiatives Bureau to develop a primary care agenda that promotes the integration of public health and primary care for the Boston Public Health Commission. The fellow will have high level responsibility for assessing primary care capacity in Boston and implementing recommendations from current BPHC and city-level initiatives including Local Public Health System Assessment, the Mayor’s Task Force on Primary Care and NeighborCare, all initiatives to improve the integration of public health and primary care.

Responsibilities: The fellow’s assignment will be to provide coordination for the projects/initiatives listed below. This will include development/refinement of a program plan and training materials; facilitating cross-agency collaboration between BPHC and city agency partners; contributing to policy analysis for specific projects and long term planning; and providing technical assistance to program staff and community partners.

• Local Public Health System Assessment: On February 2, 2013 BPHC convened stakeholders from across the city to participate in a full-day retreat to assess Boston’s public health system. During this meeting, participants engaged in an in-depth review of health related services in our area to determine how well our system is working and providing services to people who live and work in Boston with a particular focus on health equity.  The fellows will assist us to identify service duplication and gaps, and formulate ideas for eliminating both.

• The Mayor’s Primary Care Taskforce: With representatives from community health centers, hospitals, businesses, health plans, academic institutions and the community, a Task Force was convened in October of 2008. The task force studied the areas for action specified in the original report in light of substantial changes at the state level, guided additional activities, and made a number of recommendations to address primary care in the City of Boston. One of the major accomplishments of the task force was the development of a framework for an accessible, affordable, and high quality primary care system in the City of Boston. The fellow will assist in advancing additional recommendations contained in the report. In conjunction with Intergovernmental Relations Office, research and inventory, Boston Hospital community benefits submissions to the Commonwealth’s Attorney General and IRS including required community health needs assessment (CHNAs). Fellows will work with internal team and hospitals to establish standardized assessment tools for completion of CHNAs.

• NeighborCare: NeighborCare is a mayoral initiative in Boston designed to eliminate health inequities by increasing the capacity of community health centers (CHCs) to improve resident access to needed health services in their neighborhood and reduce the use of Emergency Departments for non-emergent care. Through strong partnerships with the Boston Public Health Commission, Boston community health centers, teaching hospitals, and health plans, NeighborCare aims to generate opportunities that strengthen the capacity of community health centers and hospitals to offer the right care at the right place at the right time. The fellows will develop and implement a standardized process for routinely collecting information on capacity and challenges at the CHC’s.

Throughout the assignment, the fellow will work with senior management on activities pertaining to the development and advancement of primary care services in Boston. Activities will be determined according to specific interests, professional development needs, and availability of the fellow, including:

• Integration into BPHC Programming: There will be many opportunities for mentoring from Bureau management, and to gain exposure to multiple programs in the Commission through this work. The fellow will be integrated at all levels, and will have opportunities to attend BPHC program directors meetings and Board of Health meetings. There may also be opportunities to fill surge capacity needs within the Commission, (e.g. seasonal flu activities)

• BPHC Overarching Work plan: The fellow will work with a BPHC cross-cutting team in developing and implementing a Commission-wide work plan to reduce overall obesity, Chlamydia and low-birth weight and to reduce the disparity between Black and White residents. This may include developing education and training opportunities for staff, offering technical assistance in work plan development, and contributing to the development and monitoring of indicators for evaluation.      

Deliverables

• In conjunction with Boston’s community health centers, develop a mechanism to routinely assess primary care capacity
• Convene stakeholders and conduct key informant interviews
• Compile and analyze survey results, summarize findings
• Establish processes for policy adoption and implementing recommendations across the healthcare sectors
• Provide updates to team leaders and others on an ongoing basis
• Prepares reports, fact sheets, and other publications as needed

Required Skills and Experience:  

• Demonstrated experience and skills in community health assessment, program planning and development, program management, and program evaluation. Strongly prefer experience in managing initiatives that address policy and systems change
• Familiarity with models of health outcomes based on social determinants of health, and role of policy, environmental, and systems changes in health behavior change
• Knowledge of primary care and health care delivery systems
• Commitment to role of public health in promoting social justice and health equity
• Ability to work effectively in a team approach to program management
• Excellent writing skills with experience writing reports, grants, issue papers, and related documents
• Excellent analytic skills, including ability to understand and interpret quantitative and qualitative data
• Intermediate or higher level skill in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel and Powerpoint), and Internet Explorer

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Strongly prefer Master’s degree in public health or related field
• Experience and excellent skills in working effectively with diverse community populations
• Experience and excellent skills in group facilitation and working with broad-based coalitions
• Excellent organizational skills, including ability to prioritize and to multi-task.
• Excellent verbal communication skills with experience in facilitating large meetings and public speaking
• Spanish language capability preferred

Living Conditions: Fellows will be provided with housing, health insurance and a living stipend of $750 (net/take home amount)*. Fellows will receive an award of $1500 upon successful completion of the fellowship year. Flights to and from the placement site and all other costs associated with GHC programming are included, plus $600 in professional development funds.

* Both international and national fellows will receive a monthly living stipend of $750, take home amount, but they may begin at different gross amounts because of visa and tax requirements.

To apply to this position click here: http://ghcorps.org/fellows/apply/application/