Women’s Health Program
Whittier’s Women’s Health Program is serving women where they live- in the community. Whittier’s Women’s Health Program motivates low-income pregnant women to get prenatal care to reduce the high infant mortality prevalence in the communities served. We also provide gynecological services and procedures, cancer screening and early detection, family planning, community outreach and education, HIV counseling and testing, and support services for families.

Whittier’s Public Housing Primary Care Program
Where one lives directly impacts both physical and emotional health. The physical structure of a dwelling can mean a safe, nurturing environment, or one high in risk factors that are detrimental to health, such as lead and asthma triggers. Also, dangerous neighborhoods often foster social isolation, fear, and depression. Those living in public housing are often located in communities with high incidences of chronic disease, violence and limited resources. As a federally funded Public Housing Provider, Whittier provides care to residents of Lower Roxbury Public Housing to meet their health needs and ensure that they are physically and mentally healthier so they can engage in community and social interactions, as well as managing their health.

Healthy Weight Clinic at Whittier
For children age 6 and up who are overweight, The Healthy Weight Clinic focuses on weight maintenance, as well as weight loss. Whittier offers monthly follow-ups for all patients, a self-management plan created by the nutritionist and clinic staff that focuses on nutrition and exercise, an assessment of cardiovascular risk including intake labs for cholesterol and a diabetes screen and blood pressure check at every visit, and discussion of future cardiac risk with a pediatrician.

Violence Prevention Initiative
Whittier’s Violence Prevention Initiative addresses child abuse and negligence, violence against women, hate crimes, exposure to violence or major traumatic events, and exposure to family, school, and community violence. The populations of concern range from children, youth, adults, the elderly, men and women, and all racial and ethnic groups. Many of Whittier’s programs serve to further this initiative, including the Men’s Health Program, Whittier’s Post-Prison Release Program, Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Counseling, Whittier’s Youth Enrichment Service, the Witness to Violence program, Creative Arts Therapy, the Domestic Violence Program, and Faith Based Collaborations.

Violence: A Public Health Concern
The effects of experiencing traumatic stress, either as a witness or a direct victim, are a major public health problem. Consequences include potentially severe psychological, behavioral, medical, and social dysfunction including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders, depression and psychotic conditions as well as injury and death. There is also a growing awareness that post traumatic psychopathology is linked to other serious health conditions (e.g., hypertension, smoking, heart disease, and substance use and abuse). Whittier provides community based mental health services, primary care, community outreach, and support services that use different approaches to reduce stress from violence, including individual, group, and family sessions, community dialogue and dialogue based conflict resolution, creative sessions (hip hop culture, spoken word), risk assessment, and links to care and support.

Whittier’s Youth Violence Prevention Program
Whittier’s Youth Violence Prevention Program is a comprehensive service, prevention, and education model designed to link pre-adolescents, adolescents, and young adults to primary care and supportive services. The program’s objectives include increasing the availability of and variety of child, adolescent, and young adult support services, targeting community need through the implementation of service models and treatment modalities that provide effective evidence based treatment options, increasing the access and flexibility of integrated Behavioral Health outpatient services to community members, and continuing to serve as a risk assessment and Behavioral Health program, capable of linking participants ages 10-24 to primary care and other services.

Decisions Program
Whittier’s Decisions Program is for at-risk females that are between the ages of 12-18 years old. The program focuses on problems that challenge young women, such as teen pregnancy, dating violence, self-esteem issues, the portrayal of women in media, STD prevention, birth control, and HIV/AIDS and substance abuse. Decisions also includes self-help sessions, like resume building and job searches.

Post Prison Release
Whittier’s Post Prison Release Collaborative Program works with the judicial system and community residents to identify and engage men and women who are in the penal system but are soon due to be released into society. Inmates receive a consultation 30 days before release and are informed of the specialized services offered by Whittier, such as individual counseling & peer group meetings, accessible health care and human services, referrals and service coordination, skills development and job training, job placement and child care support, and transitional, safe, and affordable housing.

Men’s Health Program
The Men’s Health Program at Whittier Street Health Center is an innovative and comprehensive outreach, education screening, and referral program designed to link men to primary health care and support services offered by the center. The objectives of the program are to provide men’s health education to the general population with a particular emphasis on African-American and Latino men by employing a multifaceted approach to community outreach, fostering community organizing among men, conducting a variety of health screening for men, conducting unique outreach and case management services to pre-released male offenders, providing case management, and identifying and enroll uninsured men for health care coverage.

Whittier’s Diabetes Center of Excellence: Prevention and Disease Management
Whittier has developed the Center for Excellence: Diabetes Prevention and Management due to the prevalence of diabetes in African-Americans, which is approximately 70 percent higher than whites and the prevalence in Hispanics is nearly double that of whites. The Center offers three separate diabetes medical groups run by our provider champion and one Spanish speaking group that meets every other month. Patients are seen by a multidisciplinary team. The Multidisciplinary Clinic is open every Friday from 9 am to 12 noon and allows patients to receive comprehensive care by the diabetes care team, consisting of providers, nurses, a clinical pharmacist, a nutritionist, and a foot specialist. Whittier also has a walk-in dental and eye clinic for diabetic patients during the clinic’s hours. The Center focuses on outreach, including focus groups, support groups, educational classes, and field trips.

Pediatric Asthma Clinic
Whittier’s Pediatric Asthma Clinic is a primary care clinic that optimizes asthma management and meets national collaborative goals. The clinic offers trained pediatric nurses and MA’s to assist with patient education and symptom assessment, case managers to track follow-up of all persistent asthmatics, and peer led symptom management sessions for adolescents. It also features symptom assessment and severity classification, medication management, self-management education, a school medication plan, and influenza vaccinations.

Urgent Care Program
Whittier’s Urgent Care Program treats minor illnesses and provides a variety of diagnostic and screening services (including X-ray and Laboratory). Patients can be seen and treated for injuries like minor lacerations, sprains, simple fractures, and animal bites, as well as sore throats, earaches, flu symptoms, asthma attacks, migraines, and high blood pressure stabilization. In order to meet the needs of patients accessing Urgent Care, Whittier has expanded clinical hours to include Monday and Friday evenings, increasing all evening hours from 5 pm to 9 pm, and increasing Saturday’s hours to 9 am to 5 pm. Whittier has also implemented a Nurse Triage system, whereby a registered nurse is always available by telephone or in person to ensure timely attention to urgent clinical situations and prompt service overall.

Arts Therapy Department
The Arts Therapy Department at Whittier Street Health Center is dedicated to using the healing power of the arts to promote learning and help continue to establish Whittier’s commitment to the overall continuum of care. Arts Therapists are trained to combine the healing effect of music, dance, drama, poetry, and art with counseling, therapeutic, and educational processes. Whittier’s Art Therapists work in partnership with more than 75 area schools, after-school programs, youth agencies, hospitals, child care centers, and shelters.