JACKSON SQ.—All adult patients from Martha Eliot Health Center (MEHC) have been transferred to other facilities, according to Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) spokesperson Rob Graham. MEHC has also increased services for adolescent patients and the community.
BCH announced in January 2013 that it was ending service for about 5,000 adult patients at MEHC, which is located at 75 Bickford St. in Jackson Square. Adult service was provided in partnership with Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), which was not consulted about the decision. There was significant community opposition to the decision.
Graham said that MEHC has changed its name to Boston Children’s at Martha Eliot Health Center to “reinforce its connection to the hospital and the hospital’s services.”
When the Gazette spoke with Graham last September, MEHC was still providing mental health services to a small number of adult patients.
Graham said MEHC has been integrated into BCH’s Primary Care Center, which will allow MEHC patients to be seen in the BCH’s Longwood Medical Area main hospital. With the move, the age limit for services at MEHC has been raised to 25 years old. MEHC has also added two bilingual and one trilingual pediatric providers, according to Graham.
Graham said MEHC is also expanding its community programming, including: creating a new Adolescent Wellness Resource Center; strengthening the support network for middle-school age youths by working with the Jamaica Plain Coalition: Tree of Life/Arbol de Vida to connect them to mentoring programs and other services; and increasing the support network for families with pre-school age children by collaborating with the nonprofits Associated Early Care and Education and Smart from the Start.