13 minute read
Health
City launches new mental health treatment pilot ‘CONNECT’
The Health Department and the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health recently announced the launch of an innovative model of mental health treatment called Continuous Engagement between Community and Clinic Treatment, or CONNECT. This new model looks to bridge gaps in the mental healthcare system, move beyond the traditional clinic role, center collaboration with communities, and be responsive to the root causes of mental health challenges.
“New Yorkers struggling with their mental health deserve compassion and support, which is exactly what CONNECT provides,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “The city is constantly innovating to provide the best possible care for New Yorkers who need it the most and CONNECT will center communities in care and bridge gaps, making sure that more New Yorkers will get the help that they need and don't fall between the cracks of the system.”
“Mental health is deeply intertwined with social needs like housing instability, and food and income insecurity—which demands a whole-person approach to support people experiencing mental illness. In addition to access to high-quality, culturally competent community mental health care and support, we must address the social and economic drivers that worsen mental health. CONNECT lowers barriers to care, meets people where they are, and supports their social and behavioral health needs in lock-step by connecting people to care and supports that reflect them as a person, not just a patient,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. “The Health Department is committed to compassionate and dignified care and support for people experiencing mental illness, and to promoting health equity through everything we do to improve mental health and wellbeing.”
“It can be difficult for someone to address their mental health needs if they are worrying about how they will eat that day, or where they will sleep that night,” said Acting Executive Deputy Commissioner of Mental Hygiene Dr. Michael McRae. “CONNECT aims to be responsive to individual and community-level needs, beyond what we may traditionally think of as mental health care.”
“As we move towards recovery, bringing mental health care to every New Yorker has never been more urgent,” said Tina Chiu and Jason Hansman, co-acting directors of the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health. “Individuals experience mental health challenges wherever they are, including non-clinical settings. The CONNECT model will allow people who struggle with serious mental illness to receive treatment and support in the communities they know and trust. Building on other innovative programs such as Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams, CONNECT will also bridge an important gap in care by offering a step-down from mobile and intensive treatment services to community-centered services.”
Nine clinic sites in high-need areas throughout The Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn have been identified for this pilot and are currently accepting referrals. Once at full scale, CONNECT will serve up to 900 new clients, and will broaden the spectrum of services for everyone who receives mental health services at the clinics.
CONNECT works to directly address health inequities within communities, responding to social factors that can negatively impact mental health, such as involvement with the justice system or housing insecurity. For example, based on community needs, some clinics may have a legal clinic available a couple of times a week, while others might establish connections with existing community-based services such as legal advocacy, housing assistance, employment service providers or food pantries.
Unique to this model, each clinic will have a full-time community liaison on that staff that will establish an ongoing relationship between the clinic and its community and identify behavioral health priorities and solutions. Examples of these solutions can include providing walk-in services throughout the day, facilitating referrals and access for justice-involved people, and immediate admission to the clinic for people stepping down from more intensive treatment services.
CONNECT clinics will provide virtual services as well as on-site and off-site services. Based on community feedback and assessment of needs, CONNECT programs may also offer individual and group interventions at nontraditional settings, such as soup kitchens.
Peers will participate in the program providing engagement and navigation through health, mental health, and social services for people, on and off site. Providing this level of support helps aid and promote continuity of services, preventing people from falling through the cracks while referred between systems.
“Henry Street Settlement, a long-time mental health care provider on the Lower East Side, is seeing firsthand the mental health crisis on the Lower East Side and throughout the city,” said David Garza, president and CEO of Henry Street Settlement. “The psychological toll of the pandemic on mental health—from isolation and grief to job loss to disruptions in care—has been dramatic for many, but particularly for lower-income New Yorkers who lack access to services and for those with serious mental illness, legal involvement and needing crisis services. The promise of CONNECT to meet people where they are—on the street, in their homes, in our offices or elsewhere—and connect them to a wide range of supports gives us tremendous opportunities to reach Lower East Side residents who are in great need of mental health care. We’re pleased to be one of New York City’s CONNECT providers.”
“We are thrilled to be part of this groundbreaking initiative which will help us deliver much-needed care to the communities we serve. Health care is a human right, and that includes comprehensive, culturally-competent mental health care,” said Elika Nerette, director of Community-Based Behavioral Health Services, Housing Works.
Mount Sinai addresses COVIDrelated decline in mammogram screenings
Prolonged delays in breast cancer screening related to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to delayed diagnosis, poor health outcomes, and an increase in disparities. To address this, Mount Sinai Health System has launched “Mammogram May” to empower women to take charge of their breast health by scheduling an annual mammogram.
The goals of the campaign are to raise awareness of the importance of mammography in early breast cancer detection and treatment, and to address a decline in breast screenings worsened by the pandemic. Mount Sinai, one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, kicked off the campaign with the help of iHeartRadio DJ Shelli Sonstein on Sunday, May 22.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women, and one in eight are expected to develop the disease at some point in their lives. Regular mammograms are vital to the early detection of breast cancer, especially when there are no physical symptoms. Data published last year in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute indicate an increase in mammogram bookings since a near-complete halt in March 2020 but it is unclear whether the rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, bookings among Asian and Hispanic women remain low.
“Our goal is to save lives, and this campaign will provide important messages and reminders to women: don’t put your health on hold, and take charge of your breast health,” said Elisa R. Port, MD, chief of breast surgery and director of the Dubin Breast Center at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. “We know early detection is a powerful tool to prevent advanced disease and death, and we hope all women and those who love them will be empowered to put their health first. Mammogram May is the start of a year-long effort to change behaviors and increase awareness. Every month after May leading up to Breast Cancer Awareness Month [in October], we will share health tips and reminders to schedule your mammograms. We hope other organizations will join us in this effort.”
The Dubin Breast Center offers integrated, compassionate care for every phase of breast health, from prevention and diagnostics to surgery and post-treatment support. Using advanced diagnostic technology such as 3D mammography, a low-dose digital approach, Mount Sinai radiologists are able to achieve better imaging and thus detection of breast cancer than using traditional mammography. Mount Sinai radiologists also use additional diagnostic technologies such as breast magnetic resonance imaging and image-guided biopsies, when needed, for successful detection. Therapeutic approaches are customized for each patient based on the specific characteristics of the cancer, risk factors, and personal preferences.
Mount Sinai is also addressing mammogram awareness and access to screening through the Mount Sinai Mammo Van, a mobile mammography program that is bringing 3D mammography to women ages 40 to 75 in all five New York City boroughs each month. The unit’s next stop is at a Harlem health fair at 2239 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. on Tuesday, May 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. To learn about screening events in your community, visit https:// www.mountsinai.org/care/radiology/services/mobile-mammography/screening-events.
The Dubin Breast Center will host its annual Fact vs. Fiction Luncheon and Symposium at The Harmonie Club, 4 East 60th Street, on Wednesday, June 1, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. The event will be moderated by Dr. Port and will bring together thought leaders and experts in women’s health from across the Mount Sinai Health System. For more information,email FvsF@eventassociatesinc.com.
For more information or to schedule your annual mammogram call 212-241-8333 or visit www.mountsinai.org/mammogrammay. Follow on social and use the hashtag #MammogramMay.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS Eyewear company pays homage to the African, Caribbean, and Latin diaspora
IT’S ALMOST COOKOUT SEASON.
By STEPHON JOHNSON
Amsterdam News Staff
Nancy Harris and Tracy Green are here to help you see…and look good in the process.
The co-founders of an African American owned eyewear company, Vontelle, LLC, want to address the lack of available options for eyeglass frames for anyone who isn’t white.
These two Black women have entered the luxury eyewear space. Why? A necessity that the major companies miss through their assumption of universality of all people in shapes and in size.
That includes the shape of the face.
“This whole thing started because we lost our glasses within months of each other,” said Green. “And I said to Nancy, I’m just taking glasses that look the same and they hurt. And you know, glasses are not made for us, right? They’re not made by African Americans and Hispanics. But we realized once we got into the market, and we’re going into our third year down, two years online.
“In our third year with the concept, [we realized] that it’s not just for African Americans and Hispanics,” Green said. “We have Japanese, we have Indians, we have anyone who has different proportions of their face, right? Some people have rounder faces, larger, those [with] smaller bridges. All glasses don’t fit everyone so you’re having a hard time finding glasses that fit.”
Some of those designs you can find on their website, vontelle.com.
Their eyewear attracted some well-known entities when they partnered with ViacomCBS to design Nickelodeon-themed eyewear.
“When I initially applied [for the initiative], we were in need of funding for our Nickelodeon children’s line,” explained Harris. “We received a licensing agreement in June of 2021, which is fabulous, so that that licensing deal allows us to start a children’s line. And with that children’s line, we realized that ‘okay, this is great, and they’re giving us this wonderful opportunity, but we need funding to make sure that we can pull it off.
Harris saw the grant application for the Famous Amos Ingredients for Success Entrepreneurs Initiative and virtually waved Green over. “I saw the thing as a grant and I saw the qualifications, and we fit the bill 100%,” said Harris. “I had a very strong feeling that we would be finalists, and when we actually were, I called Tracy up. I call her for every little success that we get. It doesn’t matter what it is. And I said we’re finalists, but the thing is Tracy and I have been prepared for this moment in time. And Tracy used to be a grant writer. She was a former CFO of a hospital system. So she taught me how to handle and manage these grants because she was doing a lot of grant applications and she had some burnout.”
Their talents didn’t just extend to their ability to obtain grants.
“So we were lucky enough to be in the right rooms,” said Green. “I’ll say this: COVID has caused havoc, but it’s also created virtual meetings and virtual meetings mean people are inviting you to everything and Nancy was very adamant to come and introduce ourselves to people everywhere we went. We’re new. We are a new eyewear brand. We’re doing this, we’re doing that and we tried to introduce ourselves, and we were in the right rooms at the right time.
“And we actually met our mentor in that room at that meeting,” continued Green. “At a virtual meeting, we met Nickelodeon, Viacom, CBS group and they loved our glasses. They loved the fact that we have patterns and designs.”
One of those designs includes a kente cloth pattern on a frame.
“They thought that we were funky and that we can do children’s glasses.”
Eyewear has become just as much of a fashion statement as shirts, pants, sneakers, and suits. The design of a frame can determine the perception from the outside. The design you wear can be an expression of your personality. Green and Harris understand this.
A spokesperson for Famous Amos said it always is, and will continue to be, a champion of Black entrepreneurship.
“We established the Famous Amos Ingredients for Success Entrepreneurs Initiative to support Black businesses and to honor the legacy of the brand’s founder, Mr. Wally Amos,” said Rachna Patel, senior director of marketing for Famous Amos. “In addition to the grants Famous Amos awards, we feel it is equally important to offer resources such as mentorship, coaching, and networking, which are provided by our community partner, the National Black Chamber of Commerce.”
What happened with Vontelle, LLC can happen to other Black businesses, too.
The second application cycle for the Famous Amos Ingredients for Success Entrepreneurs Initiative starts on May 19 and ends on June 26 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Eligible businesses must be Blackowned and in operation for five years or less.
You can apply at famousamosingredientsforsuccess.info.
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