News

Are you ready to shake up your holiday season? Now in its 5th year, the Winter Mixer is an event for the young, and the young at heart! Attended by more than 100 people each December, the evening is organized by our Developing Leaders Council - a group of committed young professionals learning about nonprofit board service and serving as Health Center ambassadors in the community. Tickets on sale now for the special early bird price of $25!

Thanks to a $5,000 grant to Lowell Community Health Center (Lowell CHC) from the Women Working Wonders Fund of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, more young mothers-to-be in recovery for substance use disorder (SUD) will have access to supports to improve outcomes for themselves and their child. 

The Health Center’s “Strong Women, Strong Families” project supports Women Working Wonders’ objective to assist women in transition, to encourage women to build on their strengths and increase self-worth while reducing stigma associated with substance use disorder. 

The new grant will provide as many as 40 low-income pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorder (SUD) with access to a specially designed support group and health-related services, to promote their transition into recovery and strengthen families. The project is a component of the Supporting Healthy Families collaboration between Lowell CHC and Lowell General Hospital, to provide targeted supports, to strengthen young families impacted by SUD.  

Women with SUD are at a higher risk for miscarriage, seizure and high blood pressure. Fifty to 80 percent of opioid-exposed infants will develop feeding issues, called neonatal abstinence syndrome, putting them at risk of lifelong behavioral and developmental problems. The first year after birth is a very stressful period for new moms, and postpartum women in recovery are at increased risk of relapse and overdose within a year after giving birth.  Pregnant women with SUD may also hesitate to...

Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation Lowell Community Health Center (Lowell CHC) will soon have the tools to improve diabetes self-management among 100 of its Medicaid patients through our DEAL (Diabetes Education and Access for Life) Program.

In particular, the Parker Foundation grant will support the first phase in development of the Health Center’s Nutrition Resource Center (NRC) to educate and engagement patients in chronic disease self-management, with a focus on uncontrolled diabetes.

“This grant has a special purpose for me. When I was a teenager, I had a friend with diabetes, so I was exposed to a lot of feelings about this particular disease. It was quite astonishing to learn that diabetes affects 13% of Lowell CHC patients. We had to support this project, knowing that it would have such significant impact. It’s very satisfying to support a project with direct benefit on the community,” said Newell Flather, Theodore Edson Parker Foundation President. 

Mirroring a national trend, Type II (sometimes called non-insulin-dependent) Diabetes is a growing issue at Lowell Community Health Center (Lowell CHC), where it affects almost 13% of Health Center patients. People with diabetes are at risk for hypertension, heart disease, and other potentially debilitating chronic conditions. The burden on patients and on the health care system is tremendous. As part of the new Wellforce Care Plan, an Accountable Care Organization, Lowell CHC is committed to significantly improving outcomes for...