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NEWS FROM CAMBRIDGE HEALTH ALLIANCE

March 1 , 2007

Cambridge Health Alliance Gets Grant to Train Professionals in Emergency Departments to Help Patients Seeking Treatment for Substance Abuse

- Trainings Free - Registration Required -

Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Medford, Revere, Somerville, Winthrop, MA…Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) announced today that CHA's Whidden Memorial Hospital (Whidden) campus has received a Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) grant to assist patients with addictions-related needs. The grant is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and will be administered by the BNI-ART Institute, a collaboration between the Boston University School of Public Health and Boston Medical Center's Department of Emergency Medicine.

CHA's Whidden campus is one of six sites throughout Massachusetts selected for the SBIRT program, which is proven to reduce the human and economic cost of high-risk and dependent drinking and drug abuse. The Emergency Department at CHA's Whidden campus will receive training in the brief negotiation interview, a nonjudgmental technique that enables patients to come to the decision about treatment on his or her own. The grant also provides salary support for two Health Promotion Advocates who will be stationed in the Emergency Department. The SBIRT program will ultimately increase CHA's capacity to offer substance abuse treatment.

SBIRT training in the brief negotiation interview will take place at CHA's Whidden campus Williams Auditorium at 103 Garland Street in Everett, Mass., on:

Monday, March 19, 2007 - 7:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.-3 p.m.

Participants may select one of the four 2-hour training sessions available. CME and CEU credits have been applied for. The free training is open to all types of first responders and Emergency Department-based health care professionals, including clergy and others. To register, please contact Lyn McManus at lmcmanus@challiance.org.

For more information about the SBIRT program: www.ed.bmc.org/SbirtProposal/index.htm

The Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, a branch of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, oversees the substance abuse prevention and treatment services in the Commonwealth. Responsibilities include: licensing programs and counselors; funding and monitoring prevention and treatment services; providing access to treatment for the indigent and uninsured; developing and implementing policies and programs; and, tracking substance abuse trends in the state. For more information: www.mass.gov/dph/bsas

Cambridge Health Alliance is a regional healthcare system with three hospitals and more than twenty primary care practices in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston's metro-North communities. As a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance offers medical residency/training programs and undergraduate learning experiences in hospital and community settings. Cambridge Health Alliance also includes the Cambridge Public Health Department, CHA Physicians Organization (CHAPO), and Network Health, a managed Medicaid plan.