Alumna helps Boston’s inner-city teens

Supriya Ramanathan, MD, ’97, has worked with Boston area teens to develop a program called Promoting Empowerment of Adolescents in Creating Community Health Services (PEACCHS). The program targets the adolescents of Mattapan, a multi-ethnic inner-city Boston neighborhood. Dr. Ramanathan hopes to improve the health care of this community, in which nearly 32 percent of children under age 18 live at or below the poverty line.

Dr. Ramanathan worked with the Mattapan Community Health Center and a committee of teens to identify key issues in adolescent health care. They helped develop and implement a needs assessment survey for Mattapan adolescents regarding their helath care needs. Initiatives are beginning to take shape, thanks in part to a Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) grant awarded by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and funded by Wyeth Lederle Vaccines.

Long term goals include creation of youth health care programs and expansion of the Mattapan Community Health Center to include an adolescent clinic. Such initiatives could begin to address the problems of substance abuse, teen pregnancy and violence.

“Problems facing Mattapan adolescents include lack of resources and cultural barriers, which can prevent youth from receiving adequate health care,” said Dr. Ramanathan. “By empowering teens to help create adolescent health care programs, we can better meet their health needs. The Mattapan Community Health Center is committed to help meet the needs of the community.”

Thomas Tonniges, MD, national director of the CATCH program, said, “Dr. Ramanathan and everyone contributing to the Promoting Empowerment of Adolescents in Creating Community Health Services initiative are involved in very important work, providing quality medical options to a community desperately in need of them. The AAP is very supportive of their efforts to improve child health in eastern Massachusetts.”