Cardinal Medeiros Center

Thousands of individuals find themselves homeless in greater Boston every year. Among them are chronically ill adults, veterans, families with school-age children, and the elderly. They are the people who stay in emergency shelters or motel rooms, eat in soup kitchens, or visit drop-in centers. They are also the men and women who find themselves on the streets, trying to survive in makeshift shelters under bridges, down alleyways, and behind city buildings.

Over 12,000 homeless men, women, and children are cared for by Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program each year. We are committed to ensuring that every one of these individuals has access to comprehensive health care, from preventative dental care to cancer treatment. Our clinicians, case managers, and behavioral health professionals work in more than 60 locations to deliver the highest quality health care to some of our community’s most vulnerable—and most resilient—citizens.  

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any year on record. Most of these deaths—78 every day—involved an opioid. Closer to home in Boston, deaths from opioid overdoses increased by 50 percent from 2014 to 2015 (Note 1). In our practice, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), based on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Albany Street (the epicenter of Boston’s drug activity), opioid overdoses have become the leading cause of death among our patients.

Join us for a festive evening to celebrate the extraordinary contributions made by corporations and young professionals to improve the lives of our community’s most vulnerable citizens. Thursday evening, September 22, 2016, 6:30 - 10 pm. Omni Parker House, 60 School Street, Boston, MA

Dr. O'Connell’s collection of stories and essays, written during thirty years of caring for homeless persons in Boston, gently illuminates the humanity and raw courage of those who struggle to survive and find meaning and hope while living on the streets. To about Stories from the Shadows or to purchase a copy, please click here.

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On December 22, 2015, BHCHP was featured on Chronicle, New England's popular evening news program.

780 Albany Street Boston, MA 02118 Tel 857.654.1000 Fax 857.654.1100[email protected]/* ![CDATA[ */!function(t,e,r,n,c,a,p){try{t=document.currentScript||function(){for(t=document.getElementsByTagName('script'),e=t.length;e--;)if(t[e].getAttribute('data-cfhash'))return t[e]}();if(t&&(c=t.previousSibling)){p=t.parentNode;if(a=c.getAttribute('data-cfemail')){for(e='',r='0x'+a.substr(0,2)|0,n=2;a.length-n;n+=2)e+='%'+('0'+('0x'+a.substr(n,2)^r).toString(16)).slice(-2);p.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(decodeURIComponent(e)),c)}p.removeChild(t)}}catch(u){}}()/* ]] */

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Primary Focus of the Provider

• Substance Abuse Treatment Services
• Mental Health Treatment Services
• Mix of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
• General health services

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Type of Care

• Mental health treatment
• Substance abuse treatment
• Detoxification
• Methadone maintenance
• Methadone maintenance for predetermined time
• Methadone detoxification
• Buprenorphine maintenance
• Buprenorphine maintenance for predetermined time
• Buprenorphine detoxification
• Relapse prevention from naltrxone
• Buprenorphine used in treatment
• Naltrexone (oral)
• Vivitrol (injectable Naltrexone)
• Methadone
• Transitional housing or halfway house
• Do not treat opiod addiction
• Use methadone/buprenorphoine for pain management or emergency dosing
• Do not use medication for opioid addiction
• Accepts clients on opioid medication
• Prescribes/administer buprenorphine and/or naltrexone
• All Clients in Opioid Treatment Program
• SAMHSA-certified Opioid Treatment Program

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Facility Type

• Psychiatric hospital or psychiatric unit of a general hospital
• Residential treatment center (RTC) for children
• Residential treatment center (RTC) for adults
• Other residential treatment facility
• Partial hospitalization/day treatment
• Outpatient mental health facility
• Community mental health center
• Multi-setting mental health facility (e.g., residential plus outpatient)

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Treatment Approaches

• Individual psychotherapy
• Couples/family therapy
• Group therapy
• Cognitive/behavioral therapy
• Dialectical behavioral therapy
• Behavior modification
• Integrated dual disorders treatment
• Trauma therapy
• Activity therapy
• Electroconvulsive therapy
• Psychotropic medication
• Telemedicine therapy
• Substance abuse counseling approach
• Trauma-related counseling
• Rational emotive behavioral therapy

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Facility Smoking Policy

• Smoking not permitted
• Smoking permitted in designated area
• Smoking permitted without restriction

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Service Setting (e.g., Outpatient, Residential, etc.)

• Hospital inpatient
• Residential
• Partial hospitalization/day treatment
• Outpatient
• Short-term residential
• Long-term residential
• Residential detoxification
• Outpatient detoxification
• Outpatient methadone/buprenorphine or vivitrol
• Outpatient day treatment or partial hospitalization
• Intensive outpatient treatment
• Regular outpatient treatment
• Hospital inpatient detoxification
• Hospital inpatient treatment
• Computerized treatment
• General Hospital(including VA hospital)
• Psychiatric hospital

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Facility Operation (e.g. Private, Public)

• Private organization
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• State mental health authority
• Other state government agency
• Regional/district or county, local or municipal government
• Tribal government
• Indian Health Service
• State Government
• Local, county, or community government
• Department of Defense
• State substance abuse agency
• State mental health department
• State department of health
• Hospital licensing authority
• The Joint Commission
• Commission on Accreditation and Rehabilitation
• National Committee for Quality Assurance
• Council on Accreditation
• Healthcare Facilitiues Accreditation Program
• Other national oraganization

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Payment/Insurance Accepted

• No payment accepted
• Cash or self-payment
• Medicaid
• Medicare
• State financed health insurance plan other than Medicaid
• Private health insurance
• Military insurance (e.g., TRICARE)
• IHS/Tribal/Urban (ITU) funds
• Access to recovery (ATR) voucher
• State mental health agency (or equivalent) funds
• State welfare or child and family services funds
• State corrections or juvenile justice funds
• State education funds
• Other State funds
• County or local government funds
• Community Service Block Grants
• Community Mental Health Block Grants
• U.S Department of VA funds
• Federal, or any government funding for substance abuse programs

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Emergency Mental Health Services

• Crisis intervention team
• Psychiatric emergency walk-in services

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Payment Assistance Available

• Sliding fee scale (fee is based on income and other factors)
• Payment assistance (check with facility for details)

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Language Services

• Services for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Spanish
• Native American Indian or Alaska Native languages
• Other languages(excluding Spanish)

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Special Programs/Groups Offered

• Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders
• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) clients
• Veterans
• Active duty military
• Military families
• Clients referred from the court/judicial system
• Seniors or older adults
• Adolescents
• Pregnant/postpartum women
• Adult women
• Adult men
• Persons with HIV or AIDS
• Persons who have experienced trauma
• Persons who have experienced sexual abuse
• Persons who have experienced intimate partner violence, domestic violence
• Children with serious emotional disturbance (SED)
• Persons with serious mental illness (SMI)
• Persons with Alzheimer's or dementia
• Persons with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Transitional age young adults
• Persons with eating disorders

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Ancillary Services

• Assertive community treatment
• Intensive case management
• Case management
• Chronic disease/illness management
• Consumer-run (peer-support) services
• Court-ordered outpatient treatment
• Diet and exercise counseling
• Education services
• Family psychoeducation
• Housing services
• Illness management and recovery
• Integrated primary care service
• Legal advocacy
• Nicotine replacement therapy
• Non-nicotine smoking/tobacco cessation medications
• Psychosocial rehabilitation services
• Screening for tobacco use
• Suicide prevention services
• Supported employment
• Supported housing
• Therapeutic foster care
• Smoking/tobacco cessation counselling
• Vocational rehabilitation services
• Alcohol Detoxification
• Benzodiazepines Detoxification
• Cocaine Detoxification
• Methamphetamines Detoxification
• Opiods Detoxification
• Treatment for gambling disorder
• Treatment for internet use disorder
• Individual counseling offered
• Group counseling offered
• Family counseling offered
• Marital/couples counseling offered
• 12-step faciltitation approach
• Brief intervention approach
• Contingency management/motivational incentive
• Motivational interviewing
• Anger management
• Martix Model
• Community reinforcement plus vouchers
• Relapse prevention
• Residential beds for clients children

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Age Groups Accepted

• Children/adolescents
• Young adults
• Adults
• Seniors (65 or older)

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Gender Accepted

• Female
• Male

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Exclusive Services

• Methadone and buprenorphine clients only
• Methadone clients only
• DUI/DWI clients
• Serve only DWI clients

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