(NECN) - In Community Health, the federal approval of a new "high-powered" birth control bill is explained by Dr. Myechia Jordan, chief medical officer for the Dimock Center in Boston joins NECN with more on the research.

View the video here

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health/Bureau of Substance Abuse Services has awarded a contract to The Dimock Center for a residential treatment program for women in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse.
 
The year-long residential program will have an Afro-centric focus and follow a therapeutic community model that provides individual counseling, group counseling and peer-to-peer support. The program will also address the issues of domestic violence and trauma, which often complicate a women's recovery.
 
"We are extremely excited to introduce My Sister's House at Dimock," said Ruth Kelley, The Dimock Center's Chief Behavioral Health Officer. "There is a need for comprehensive substance abuse care for women in our community and we are committed to addressing this problem."
 
The Goddard Building on Dimock's campus in Roxbury will be the new home to the program, which will provide care for 22 women. Dimock anticipates opening My Sister's House in the late fall of 2010. 
 
The addition of My Sister's House will expand The Dimock Center's already comprehensive residential addiction recovery services and enable Dimock to serve more than 70 men and women in recovery.

 

The Dimock Center has four functioning boards which deal with different areas of responsibility on our campus. Three of the boards, the Community Services Board, the Real Estate Board and the Community Health Center Board report into The Foundation Board.  The chair of that board has been Clayton Turnbull over the last 7 years. In June, 2010, Clayton's term on the board was due to expire and the board's nominating committee, lead by Bob Rivers, President of Eastern Bank, spent the better half of last year searching for a new Board Chair. 
 
On June 16, 2010, Dimock's Foundation Board members approved Fletcher "Flash" Wiley as incoming Board Chair and Latoyia Edwards and Chris Sherman as new members of the Board.
 
Flash Wiley serves as a practicing attorney at Bingham McCutchen LLP, concentrating in the areas of corporate and commercial law, small business development, entertainment law, and real estate for more than two decades. He was Director of several for-profit business organizations, including three public companies and is currently a Director of The TJX Companies, Inc. 
 
Latoyia Edwards serves as a morning news anchor for NECN. She is a long-term Dimock supporter. Latoyia was crowned Miss Massachusetts in 2002 and brings a great deal of media and PR experience to the Dimock Board. 
 
Chris Sherman currently serves as the Vice President of Anbaric Corporation. He has been working in the energy industry since 1996, and has developed an extensive knowledge of diverse commercial, operational, and policy issues.  
 
The Dimock Center is proud to call these wonderfully talented people "board members". We look forward to tapping into the unique skill set they each bring to those we serve. We are grateful to them for agreeing to share their time with us and to help us tell the Dimock story to an even wider audience. Welcome!

The Dimock Center President & CEO honored for a distinguished legal career that included her selection as the first female African-American partner with a major Boston law firm.

 

The Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA) recognized The Dimock Center’s President and CEO, Ruth Ellen Fitch, as one of its 2010 Trailblazer Award recipients at the Association’s annual gala on Thursday, April 22nd.

 

The Trailblazer Award specifically recognizes individuals whose careers included groundbreaking accomplishments that established positive examples for other African-American lawyers and professionals.

 

“In addition to a stellar legal career, Ruth Ellen Fitch’s selection as a partner with Palmer and Dodge set an example that helped blaze a path for other African-American attorneys to follow,” said Douglas Martin, President of the MBLA.  “Her work and the contributions of our other trailblazers helped to create professional opportunities for countless others.”

 

Past recipients of the Trailblazer Award include, Governor Deval Patrick, Massachusetts’s first African-American governor, and the Honorable Joyce London Alexander, the first African-American Chief United States Magistrate Judge in the Nation and the first African-American Chief Judge in Massachusetts.

As President and Chief Executive Officer of The Dimock Center, Ms. Fitch has returned to the Roxbury neighborhood where she was raised, bringing her significant experience managing complex organizations to Dimock, as well as her commitment to helping others overcome social and economic obstacles so they may achieve in life. 

Leaders from state interagency councils join in visit that included conversations with patients, clients and frontline staff 

Roxbury, MA – Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray visited the historic campus of The Dimock Center for a tour that included Dimock’s Health Center, the Mary Eliza Mahoney House family shelter, Dimock’s Acute Treatment Services program, which houses a 30-bed inpatient detox program, and the John Flowers Recovery Home, a halfway house for men recovering from substance abuse. 

Ruth Ellen Fitch, The Dimock Center’s President and CEO (pictured at left), and Ruth Kelley, Dimock’s Chief Behavioral Health Officer (pictured at right), led the tour, introducing the Lieutenant Governor to staff, patients and clients.   

“I appreciated the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue with patients, clients, and staff during my visit to The Dimock Center,” said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray.  “As we manage through these challenging economic times, strengthening our partnership with organizations like The Dimock Center is even more imperative to ensure we address the needs of the community.” 

“We were honored to have the Lieutenant Governor visit Dimock and appreciate his obvious interest in the well-being of some of society’s neediest, the homeless and those struggling to recover from addiction,” said Ruth Ellen Fitch.  “Support and coordination with the State is critical to our ability to provide quality care and innovative programs like the John Flowers Recovery Home, which offers hope and healing.” 

In addition to the Lieutenant Governor, senior leaders from several state agencies toured The Dimock Center, including; Michael Botticelli, the Director of the Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, William Luzier, the Executive Director of the Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention, Elizabeth Curtis, the Executive Director of the Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness and Mayra Morales, the Boston Regional Director for the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.  

About the Dimock CenterThe Dimock Center was founded in 1862 as the New England Hospital for Women and Children and is now nationally recognized as a model for the integrated delivery of comprehensive health care and human services in an urban community. In 2009, The Dimock Center’s physicians and staff handled over 73,000 patient and client visits, providing Boston City residents and families access to high-quality health care and human services they might not be able to receive elsewhere.  The center’s programs cover a range of services that include adult & pediatric medicine, eye & dental care, HIV/AIDS services, child & family development support programs, behavioral health and addiction recovery services and adult basic education.