How Tufts Medical Center Lives United

Tufts Medical Center is recognized for its high-quality, patient-centered care, its staff of nationally and internationally recognized medical care providers and researchers, and its history as one of the region’s top academic medical centers. Tufts Medical Center includes Floating Hospital for Children, a full-service children’s hospital.

Tufts Medical Center’s community health mission is to support and sustain the health and well-being of residents in communities that have historic or developing relationships with the hospital.  Their mission also calls for providing leadership for academic medical centers in the creation of a model that implements a long-term community health agenda.

Tufts' longstanding presence in Boston’s Chinatown has resulted in the development of many community health initiatives that serve the Asian population. As an example, their Asian Access Program serves community members from infants to the elderly through the Adolescent Family Program, the Asian American Center for Cancer Education and Research, and the Asian Psychiatry Clinic. These and other programs offer linguistically and culturally appropriate health services to members of the surrounding Asian communities.

A sample of the Medical Center’s additional outreach programs include:

• The Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute Outreach Program, which helps educate parents and children about avoiding traumatic injury;
• Minority Student Outreach, which encourages high school students and elementary school children to foster their interest in science; and
• The Quincy School Child Psychiatry Consultation Program, through which staff members work with school officials to identify and treat children with mental health problems in Quincy.

Tufts Medical Center also helps support many organizations that promote health in its neighborhoods, including Asian American Civic Association/Sampan, South Cove Community Health Center,  Wang YMCA, Bird Street Community Center, Neponset Health Center,  Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester Multi-Service Center and others. More than 42,500 community members were served by these organizations in fiscal 2008.

Tufts Medical Center’s commitment to the community is also evident in the generosity of its employees.  Over the last five years, Tufts physicians and staff contributed over $130,000 to support the work of United Way.