2024 was such an exciting year for BCP! We started the year in our newly expanded space and really grew into this beautiful new home, creating new and expanded programming for over 1,700 patients and their families. The addition of weekly dental services added important preventative care that can be hard to access for families with low-income. Additionally, we were able to expand our mental health group programming with BCP’s Strong Mom Healthy Baby group (a monthly group visit program for the first year of a child’s life), preteen mental health groups, and college nights to address the needs of our patients from diapers to diplomas.
BCP hired Health Resources in Action (HRiA) to truly evaluate the “special sauce” of BCP’s work. We learned that creating a new and disruptive healthcare organization that puts patients and staff at the center actually works! As one staff member commented, “[At BCP], we’re asking questions and delving into the problems that families face. Since we have more solutions here, we’re not just asking the questions to check off the box. We can’t fix everything, but we can start chipping away at the issues.”
We expanded our care navigation team so that families have the opportunity to work closely with a team member in order to address the social determinants of health. BCP worked with 699 patients to help with housing insecurity (which can take months to address), utilities, food insecurity, childcare and so much more. As one caregiver said, “There are constant check-ups, you know you’re not alone and that they care about you; it means a lot. It makes you feel like a person, like you’re valuable. They feel like partners. They’ve got your back.”
BCP won the Excellence in Innovation Award from the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network and received its first Cummings grant, among others. In November, BCP hosted our very first Voices from the Front Lines event which highlighted BCP’s new model of pediatric healthcare and the work we are doing to address the youth mental health crisis. We were honored to have such a prestigious group of speakers including MA Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. Dr. Riseberg delivered a Ted Talk-style keynote address to about 400 politicians, community members, and donors, which was a huge highlight and an opportunity to truly reflect on how far we have come in just four years. It was a moment to recognize the importance of the work we are doing and the momentum we are gaining as our traditional healthcare system continues to fail kids each and every day.
As we head towards 2025, BCP wants to leave you with HOPE - hope that we as a community can change the system. Together, we can demand that healthcare actually brings health to people and health to communities. Wishing you all health, happiness and peace in 2025!
XOXO,
The BCP Team