QHC meets with its community advisors and organizations

The Queens Health Coalition (QHC) recently convened a meeting of its Community Advisory Support Program (CASP).
The CASP is made up of community-based organizations as well as other service providers, who counsel QHC on ways to best meet the health care and social needs of Queens residents.
QHC, a non-profit organization started 15 years ago, provides vital links between those in need of care and those who provide it. It concentrates on the hard-to-reach, at-risk populations of the borough who may not know what types of affordable health and social services exist – or how to access them.
QHC has a multi-lingual staff of professionals who specialize in educating, advising or referring individuals who suffer from barriers to care, due to factors such as economics, education, age and cultural diversity.
The CASP is a means of strategizing the ways to help insure that the challenges of serving the underserved are met. The focus of the recent CASP meeting was on an upcoming annual event, the Community Baby Shower, a project of QHC’s Comprehensive Prenatal/Perinatal Services Network (CPPSN), which is a New York State Department of Health funded program dedicated to promoting positive birth outcomes.
The “community baby shower” was a huge success last year, with more than 100 in attendance. It is free and open to Queens moms with children under the age of four and mothers-to-be and their families. This year it is planned for December 11.
“Our meeting in June to talk about December is indicative of our desire to help make this event even bigger and better than the last one,” said Phyllis Shafran, executive director of QHC. “This meeting also underscores the need to give help and hope to pregnant women and their children.
“We let them know there are services that will give their babies the best chances for a bright future,” Shafran said, adding, “We are grateful to CASP members for providing insight and advice on the problems and the solutions that assist the most vulnerable segments of our population lead healthier lives.”
If you are interested in joining the CASP or in attending the baby shower call Rose Marie Dorvily, CPPSN program director at 718-762-0346, Ext. 14.