The Middlesex County Community Care Team

A letter from Lisa Tepper Bates:

As the providers from across the state who work each day to end homelessness, you are responsible for so many of our remarkable successes in 2015. You are the most essential piece of our new way forward as we build new, coordinated systems to better serve those in need.

All of your work hard in tough circumstances does not end in 2015, but has laid the groundwork for faster travel toward change and making a difference in this new year.

This year we want to strengthen our practices, abilities, and data. We are closing the year with comprehensive statewide trainings by the National Alliance to End Homelessness on Best Practices for Emergency Shelters, and introducing new trainings on the VI-SPDAT 2.0 and shelter diversion in the first quarter of the year. And, mark your calendars, for plans are underway for the 14th Annual Training Institute on May 12, 2016.

This year, I hope that we at CCEH and all of our partners in the field will join me in the commitment to make every day count and a new resolve in our passion against homelessness.

We at CCEH wish you a wonderful New Year. Thank you for all that you do.
Best regards,
Lisa Tepper Bates

Lessons from the Field:
Hospital Initiatives in Middlesex County
The Middlesex County Community Care Team (CCT) is comprised of 13 community partner agencies that specialize in the delivery of care of or patients experiencing substance abuse and mental health disorders.
This partnership not only helped to create a network or multi-agency intervention and care, but developed individualized care plans of wrap-around services to best meet the needs of the specific patient and improve social determinants of health. Through just 195 patients, the program has reduced emergency department & inpatient visits by 1,142, which is a significant cost savings for the hospital.

By creating this partnership and links between physicians, psychiatrists, specialists, and their supportive housing and outpatient services network of Middlesex county, they have also been able to improve the quality of life for these high-need individuals, such as increasing sobriety, mental health stabilization, reducing homelessness, and assisting re-entry into the workforce.

In Middlesex County, service providers have been able to reduce emergency room visits and improve the quality of life for all high-risk patients which are experiencing acute and chronic mental health issues as well as substance abuse and have high emergency department utilization. 40% of this population is homeless or live in fragile or unstable housing.

To learn more about how this partnership was developed and organized as well as how you can build these programs in your community, please contact Terri DiPietro, Director of Outpatient Behavioral Health for Middlesex Hospital, at terri.dipietro@midhosp.org and Lydia Brewster, Assistant Director of Community Services for St. Vincent de Paul, at lydia@svdmiddletown.org.
Visit St. Vincent DePaul’s Website