Project DULCE Implementation Manual
B. DULCE Partners
PEDIATRIC PRIMARY CARE
As noted earlier, Project DULCE was developed at Boston Medical Center (BMC) in
2011. The families that Family Specialists worked with were seen at BMC ’s Pediatric
Primary Care Clinic where comprehensive medical care for children was provided: routine check-ups, childhood immunizations, sick visits, and supervision of chronic medical problems.
Some of the programs and services of BMC Pediatric Primary Care are:

Reach Out and Read
– every child gets a book at all check-ups from 6-months to 6years-old; volunteers in the waiting room read to children

Health Leads Family Help Desk : families are referred to this program for needs related to siblings, parents and/or immediate family members. Families receive assistance and information with regard to housing applications, summer camps, utility assistance, job searches, food pantries, clothing resources, and many other issues.

Interpreter Services : interpreters are available to translate a family’s primary language – no matter what it is

Child Life : Child Life Specialists are on staff to help take the sting and fear out of visiting the doctor’s office

Extended Hours : evening and Saturday appointments are available to meet patients’ needs.

Primary Care Specialty Services : a full range of pediatric specialty care clinics and timely referrals are offered to keep children healthy
HEALTHY STEPS
Healthy Steps for Young Children (Healthy Steps) is a national initiative focusing on the importance of the first three years of life. Healthy Steps emphasizes a close relationship between health care professionals and parents in addressing the physical, emotional, and intellectual growth and development of children from birth to age three.
Each Healthy Steps team includes a Healthy Steps Specialist, who enhances the information and services available to parents. The Healthy Steps Specialist can be a new team member or a nurse, child development specialist, or social worker already working in the practice. The Specialists have special training in child development and address major behavioral and developmental issues, focusing on a whole baby/whole family brand of primary care.
As noted by Dr. Berry Brazelton
, “
Healthy Steps is an important first step toward using the development of the baby as a langu age to reach out to parents.”
Getting Started
DULCE Partners
© 2013 Project DULCE / Boston Medical Center
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Project DULCE Implementation Manual
MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIP|BOSTON
Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston is an interdisciplinary team of health care staff, attorneys, and paralegals who integrate legal assistance into the medical setting as a vital component of patient care.
By combining the strengths of law and medicine, MLP | Boston addresses the complex social determinants of patients’ health and ensures that low-income patients are able to meet their basic needs for food, housing and utilities, education and employment, health care, and personal and family stability and safety.
MLP | Boston collaborates with healthcare providers in three key activities that promise to transform the delivery of health care and legal services and improve health for vulnerable individuals and families:

Legal Assistance in the Healthcare Setting: legal professionals become members of healthcare teams to assist patients with unmet legal needs, such as unhealthy housing conditions.

Capacity-Building: reorients healthcare and legal services to early detection and preventive care through training and education.

Policy Change: leverages health and legal expertise to improve local, state, and federal laws and regulations that impact the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations.
Getting Started
DULCE Partners
© 2013 Project DULCE / Boston Medical Center
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