East Boston Main Streets to Host Second Monthly Merchants’ Meeting

This just in from Max Gruner at EBMS:

(EASTBOSTON, MA; MARCH 30, 2015) – East Boston Main Streets invites the East Boston small and micro business community, residents, as well as public employees and city officials to our second monthly Merchants’ Meeting on Tuesday April 8th from 11:00am-12:30 at the Market Place at 154 Maverick St. on the 4th floor.

Meet your peers, share ideas about how to make this summer the best yet for our small business community, discuss challenges and solutions to problems we all face in the community, and hear from our elected officials and the officers from the Boston Police about all that is going on in our neighborhood. 
 
We are proud to introduce Jose Luis “Pepe” Rojas from the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation as our guest speaker to discuss financial resources available to businesses especially hard hit by this winter’s never ending blizzards.
Coffee and snacks provided.

For more details or ques tions please contact Max Gruner at mgruner@ebmainstreets.com or Antonio Arevalo at a.vip.guest@gmail.com or call the EBMS office at 617-561-1044.

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EBMS is a non-profit corporation. Its mission is to create a more vibrant business district by initiating private and public improvements, promoting commerce, and supporting efforts to improve the quality of life for all who live, work, and do business in East Boston.

In memory: The life of Bill Bagley recalled at funeral: "Drink the Good Wine First”

Submitted by Michael Laurano

“Bill” Bagley, Jr. Memorial Service Held Saturday 3/21/15 -    Standing Room Only -

The immense Romanesque  Church of St. Anthony of Padua in Revere Massachusetts once aptly described as a veritable “basilica” by the late Boston Cardinal William O’Connell is the largest church building in its vicinity. The church was filled beyond full seating capacity on Saturday morning, March 21st, for a memorial Mass celebrated “in loving memory” of East Boston native and retired pharmacist, William Morgan (“Bill”) Bagley, Jr.

Scores of persons, many recalling and speaking of Bill’s kindnesses during the years he practiced pharmacy in East Boston and Winthrop, others coming from out of State, some from Europe and Asia, arriving by car, bus, and taxi  began to fill the church parking lot an hour before the service began at 11:00 AM. The celebrant and homilist Rev. Brian McHugh of Somerville, Mass. said that upon arrival he had difficulty in finding a parking space. Streaming in to the piping of a lone kilted bagpiper on the front plaza later arrivals found “standing room only” inside the cavernous ornate edifice for which construction began in 1926 as an Italian “national parish” church. Artistically restored in recent years it is now the impressive house of worship for an area comprising three former Roman Catholic parishes.
    
The Processional Hymn was the traditional Irish melody, “Morning Has Broken”.  The first reading, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, was by Bill’s Niece, Cheryl Kiernan. The second reading, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5-1, was by Bill’s brother, Robert Bagley. The Offertory Hymn sung in Latin was “Ave Maria” during which the Presentation of the Gifts of Bread and Wine was made by Caroline Kiernan and Elizabeth Kiernan, Bill’s Grandnieces, and Will Goodwin, Bill’s Grandnephew. The Communion Song was “Taste and See”. The Commendation meditation tune was “I Have Loved You”. The Recessional Hymn was from the 1994 film The Lion King “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” composed by Elton John.
 
At the outset of the service “Bill” was eulogized by his Wife of 43 years, Carol Vahey. She spoke of Bill’s pleasant nature which never failed and the good humor he maintained during his long confrontation with life threatening kidney disease beginning in 1987 later requiring a kidney transplant. Carol recounted Bill’s boundless and irrepressible generosity relating stories from their adventuresome worldwide travels together during her work years posted in London and Hong Kong and Bill’s retirement with Bill soon learning how to say “keep the change” in Mandarin Chinese. Carol confirmed Bill’s limitless love for his family and his friends relating that in this regard “Nothing was left unsaid.” 
 
The printed program for the order of service bore a likeness of “Bill” with the inscription “Drink the Good Wine First”. After the church service attendees were invited to join the family “to toast Bill” at the Hyatt Harborside Hotel at Logan Airport, East Boston. The hotel parking lot also quickly filled to capacity. Inside in the Hyatt’s 2nd floor large reception area it was again “standing room only”.
                                                                      

New Boston Fed report finds large disparities in assets and debts among subpopulations in the greater Boston area

Source: Boston Federal Reserve Bank
(BOSTON, MA - March 26, 2015) In a new analysis of the economic well-being of several specific racial and ethnic groups by country of origin, a Boston Fed report
finds large disparities in wealth by race and ethnicity for the Boston metropolitan statistical area. The Color of Wealth in Boston report, released as part of a partnership between the Boston Fed, the Ford Foundation, and the Duke University's Consortium on Social Equity, is part of the National Asset Scorecard in Communities of Color (NASCC) initiative—a pilot survey conducted in targeted metropolitan areas to gain insights about the asset and debt positions of different
racial and ethnic groups.

The Color of Wealth in Boston provides an analysis of assets and debts focused on whites and nonwhites including U.S. born blacks, Caribbean blacks, Cape Verdeans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans, a detailed demographic breakdown that is not available in other surveys of income and wealth.

"The wide racial wealth gap we see in Boston is a worrisome sign that many families do not have sufficient assets to offer better opportunities for future generations," said Ana Patricia Muñoz, Director of Community Development Research at the Boston Fed and the  project manager of the Boston NASCC research effort. 


"We are releasing The Color of Wealth in Boston with the goal of encouraging discussions around potential changes in policy and practice at the state and local level that can help tackle the wealth gap, shown to be divergent between whites and nonwhites."


At the release of The Color of Wealth in Boston report on Thursday, a panel of practitioners, funders, and policymakers reacted  to the report's findings. They discussed how a multidimensional and cross-sectorial approach could help address wealth and income inequality at both the municipal and state levels. 


The panel included Massachusetts State Sen. James Eldridge; John Barros, City of Boston Chief of Economic Development; Angela Brown, Director of Programs at the Hyams Foundation; and Tom Shapiro, Director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University.

The release of this report builds on the Boston Fed's longstanding concern with the economic well-being of all Americans by providing aggregate data on the assets and debts of communities of color, and encouraging a policy discussion around potential solutions.

About the National Asset Scorecard in Communities of Color (NASCC)

The NASCC initiative has involved the design and implementation of a survey in targeted metropolitan areas (Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Tulsa, and Washington,
D.C.) to gain insights about the asset and debt positions of racial and ethnic groups at the detailed country-of-origin level. The survey also ascertains unconventional financial information, such as families' use of payday lending and remittances. The NASCC principal investigators are William Darity Jr. (Duke University) and Darrick Hamilton (The New School).

Malden/East Boston Youth Hockey: Help Us Reach Our Goal:

Today’s Top 10: Annual MEB 10K Raffle

As we watch our teams wrap up regular season play in preparation for playoffs (yeah, baby!), we are reminded that the foundation of our league continues to be our youngest players – like those pictured here in the Learn-to-Skate program.  These kids are the reason for many of our biggest fundraising activities, and why the feature of this week’s update is on our big event this Friday – the Annual 10K raffle.

Are you busy this Friday night, March 27, 2015? No, have we got a deal for you!!! Malden/East Boston Youth Hockey (MEB) is holding its largest annual fundraiser – the $10K Raffle and Dinner. For the past several years, this event has provided the league with funding greatly needed to finish off the season and prepare for next season. With ice rental fees continually increasing, we have used this event to help pay-off rinks and other fees owed at the end of our season. Admit it, you are thinking, “Why should I get involved in another fundraising event?" Here are 10 reasons (think of the David Letterman show as you read these aloud):

Top 10 reasons for buying a ticket for the Malden East Boston Youth Hockey (MEB) 10K raffle:

10.  You or a friend or family member have or have had kids in youth hockey in the last 10 years (so you know how expensive ice time is!)

9.  You are or have a friend or family member are from or live in East Boston or Malden (or have in the last 10 years)

8.  MEB has kept their annual tuition price virtually the same (or lowered it!) for players for the past 7 years through fundraising efforts like this

7.  You operate a business in Malden or East Boston, or one of several other surrounding communities, and enjoy supporting youth sports programs with a tax deductible donation

6.  The MEB 10K is an “elimination-style” raffle, where half of the fun is watching as your co-investors are “knocked out” of the running for the big prize

5.  You are a current MEB youth hockey parent and have at least three other friends to defray the cost of another chance at the jackpot

4.  MEB is an example of a great merger of two town teams, with drive and competitiveness resulting in multiple tournament and league championships over the past 7 years

3.  Your child is one of the 30+ current and former MEB players who for the 2014-15 school year were accepted onto their high school hockey programs

2.  The math is simple: 4 friends + you = 20 bucks a head for a ticket; heck, make it 9 friends (come on, you have more than 4, right?) and it’s only 10 bucks each for a chance at a share of TEN GRAND

1.  What else are you going to do this Friday night – KARAOKE? This is way more fun than embarrassing yourselves in front of your friends – err, scratch that – it’s about the same, but for a much better cause than your weekend-warrior, artificially induced delusions of fame and that crazy dream of making it on THE VOICE!

The details (our lawyer appreciates us including these):

The fundraising part is an “elimination raffle” drawing for $10,000*, whose tickets cost $100 each, and include dinner for two at the event, which takes place from 7:00 PM to midnight this Friday, March 27, at the Loyal Order of Moose Club, Broadway, Malden. A buffet dinner is served and families donate desserts, there are additional chances for winning baskets from each of the teams in the league, other donated goods and services, and a great silent auction of sports memorabilia is available as well. We'll have a DJ, and several participants will likely resort to dancing either as a result of their tickets being eliminated from the remaining eligible or just from the contagious fun all are having at the event.

Really, the event is truly quite fun, especially if you like watching people enjoy themselves while witnessing each other’s chances of winning wash away as the evening wears on – a bit of schadenfreude among the youth hockey parents. Remember, this is a chance at winning a few thousand bucks! That of course depends on your luck and the choices of some “finalists” in the process. Let me explain – this is an opportunity to enter an elimination-style raffle, where the total number of tickets sold generates the dollar amount available for winning. In this case, the tickets cost $100 each, and the goal is to sell 200 of them, so that the organization generates $10,000 and the winner receives $10,000 (or is split among winners). In the case of fewer tickets sold, the pot is slightly smaller, but the concept remains the same.

However it turns out, all who attend have fun, and all who buy a ticket start out with a chance at the final prize. This is a great opportunity to support one of our growing sports organizations, and a chance at winning. If you find you are not interested in buying a ticket individually, the concept of four friends pitching in $25 each works very well. Also, we see a lot of “group” tickets, which can work with your colleagues at work, friends in your circle, or among family members to spread the investment across a few more people. If you know of others who may be interested, please feel free to pass this information along.

One raffle ticket includes dinner admission for two, but you do not need to attend the event to win. You can choose to have a representative at the event if you cannot attend in person. If you are interested in either a single ticket or a group ticket, please contact us ASAP, as the event is this week, and we are stretching to reach our goal.

Ticket forms are available from one of our coaches or Board members, or on our website at http://www.mebhockey.com/Fundraising_Events.html

Thank you for your consideration, and if you choose to participate – good luck! If you attend, it really can be quite an entertaining evening and a great way to keep these little ones on the ice for a few more years.

* The total amount available for the winners is determined by the total number of tickets sold, and is a maximum of $10,000 (our goal).

Discover East Boston at the 15th Annual Open Studios Weekend: April 25 & 26

(EAST BOSTON, March 20, 2015) The fifteenth annual East Boston Open Studios will be held on Saturday April 25th from noon to 6pm and on Sunday April 26th from noon to 4pm. Over thirty artist studios and the Atlantic Works Gallery exhibit entitled “Metaphors & Metamorphoses”, featuring artwork by Leigh Hall and Suzanne Mercury, will be open at the Atlantic Works artist building at 80 Border Street.

You are invited to tour the artist’s building and talk to the artists, see them at work and learn about art. Original artwork including jewelry, sculpture, figurative and abstract painting, pottery, drawings and photography will be for sale in all price ranges.

Participating Open Studios artists in the Atlantic Works building include; Cindy Bishop, Colette Bresilla, Elsa Campbell, Domenic Chavez, Chris Chou, Nick Costopoulos, Darlene DeVita, Rick Dorff,  Jessica Dunegan, Jason Fitz-Gerald, Dennis Fox, Kevin Frances, Jesse Kahn, Kim Kent, Maureen Kirra, Jaime Min, Diane Modica, Liz Nofzinger, Maureen O’Connor, Moni Oolyonghai, Jane O’Reilly, Al Ragone, Juliann Rubijono, June Krinsky Rudder, Sarah Rushford, Anna Salmeron, Carmen Sasso, Loretta Shoemaker, Larry Volk, Jaye Woodstock and Neil Wyatt.

During Open Studios weekend you can also sample artwork, music and performances at these other neighborhood locations:  ZUMIX at 260 Sumner Street, Harbor Arts @ the Shipyard at 256 Marginal Street and Papusa Mania at 30 Bremen Street (open Sunday only).

If you have not yet discovered East Boston, you are in for a treat. The Boston Writer blog says “…East Boston is an easy point of access to downtown Boston, a community of vibrant businesses, tasty restaurants, a thriving arts scene, and gorgeous parks“. East Boston Open Studios is organized by the East Boston Artists Group, a volunteer organization made up of artists living and working in East Boston. The group sponsors arts events throughout the East Boston neighborhood including an Open House and Holiday Sale in December. The Open Studios event is supported by a grant from the East Boston Foundation with administrative support from ZUMIX. Come see what makes East Boston shine: the art, the people, and the vitality of life on Boston Harbor.

The Atlantic Works building is a quick 5-minute walk from the Maverick Station on the Blue Line. If driving, there is plenty of free on-street parking.

For more information and directions, visit our website at www.eastbostonartists.org.
You can email us at eastbostonartistsgroup@gmail.com and follow us on Facebook @East Boston Artists Group or on Twitter @eastbostonart.

R.I.P. Bill Bagley, Jr. January 8, 1944 - March 13, 2015; A portrait of a friend by Michael Laurano

A Portrait of the Young Man
BILL BAGLEY, Jr.
January 8, 1944 – March 13, 2015
 
Bill Bagley, Jr. was by every measure and account an extraordinary person, well known and extremely well liked throughout East Boston, Winthrop and far beyond. As an adult his kindnesses and benefactions to others as a practicing pharmacist in East Boston and Winthrop, but not only as that, were many and most often known only to him and the recipients. I write now of the lesser known, the very young Bill Bagley, Jr. , the “Billy” I knew best.

After The War in 1949 when available housing for returned veterans and their new families was still hard to come by my family moved from a rented flat at 29 Wordsworth Street a mile or so away to the more comfortable 2 family house at 719 Bennington Street which somehow they succeeded in purchasing. In that move I left behind all my former childhood friends. The distance of that mile was a long way for a 6 year old. 

One lonely day playing in the field out in back of Bennington Street, now a lone John Cheverus public school kid in a virtual completely St. Mary’s parochial school neighborhood , I chanced to encounter another kid who lived several houses up the same block. A year younger than I he was the older son and namesake of a highly respected lawyer my Father knew. His name was William Morgan Bagley, Jr. and he was that day with his younger brother, Bobby. This new kid informed me that he was descended on his Grandmother side from William Morgan, a pirate. Duly impressed by that information as a 6 year old would be I did not then know that after a separation imposed by his parents, Bill and Grace, buying and moving their young family then of 3 children, Dotty, Billy and Bobby,  later to become six with the addition of Freddie, Tommy and Patty, to their own new home at number 670 down and across wide and even then heavily trafficked Bennington Street that he and I would at a later time become even better acquainted and then constant boyhood companions. It was a most fortunate meeting for me for I could not have been better befriended or better influenced during my childhood leading into young adulthood. Life as it usually will later presented different pathways to different places in the world for both of us. Billy eventually went afar from there. I for a long time at least stayed near. However, neither Billy or I ever forgot the strong bonds forged during those years.

Childhood play stopped and work seriously began the day we obtained our sequential respective social security numbers. Billy then gave up his occasional work on the clamming flats off of Harbor View where Dorgan’s boats set out each day as tides allowed. On his initiative we shared a more intensive and regular pre-dawn job on a Hood Milk delivery truck at the Heights Projects. Then came another pre-dawn job, a Sunday morning paper route. In the heat of summer, the bitter cold of winter and in all elements in between for several years we trundled a heavy wood cart with huge iron wheels up and down the hilly streets and vales of Harbor View and the Star of the Sea and Grace Church neighborhood . That trundle cart, reminiscent of something out of Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities, was gratuitously made for us by Billy’s neighbor, Mike Santamaria. He was a musically talented barber who sometimes taught and as often played exquisite violin, mandolin and guitar in between administering haircuts in his first floor shop next door to Billy’s home. We sold the remaining Sunday newspapers standing outside of Star of the Sea Church and in doing tried to stay out of their way as emerging parishioners rushed out of Father Magennis or Father Leonard’s early Mass in a stampede for still warm jelly, plain and raised donuts and crullers across the street at the Bakery. Billy was an altar boy often serving weddings and funerals replete in white and black ironed surplice so the priests let us keep inside the mysteriously dark, holy and beautiful lower Church a huge wooden “paper box” Bob Shephard the long-time church sexton and parish Boy Scout leader had sympathetically constructed for us. It had the approximate dimensions of an oversized coffin. With the appropriate genuflections Billy and I solemnly carried “our paper-box” weekly out of an unused room at the rear of the church and set up shop near the steps outside. Before electrification that chamber hidden behind the pipes had housed the hand pumped bellows for the deeply toned wailing organ often played by one of the black robed and in every way wonderful Sisters of Mercy who taught at St Mary’s School where Billy and I were then both enrolled in Sister Bonaventure’s class.

Beginning in 1959 and for several years, again entirely on his initiative, Billy and I together working shifts alternately staffed the soda fountain counter at an Orient Heights pharmacy, “Byron at the Heights” operated by Louis Doodlesack. It was there and then, somewhere between mixing “frappes”, dishing hot fudge sundaes, and delivering prescriptions, at first by foot, later by car when we each learned to drive on the standard shift store car., Encouraged by Louie who suggested that path to both of us, Billy decided to pursue a career in pharmacy while I decided to go off in a different direction, the Law. Billy’s Dad helped me in that at every turn.

In between and through all of those years from mid 50s through the late 60s whenever he and I were not on duty working somewhere Billy and I in curiosity wandered together in all seasons the long streets, the then empty fields and marshes, the shore and the environs of our East Boston neighborhood. Later carried us even further away by Rapid Transit to his schoolmate Thaddeus Gontarski’s apartment in the Charlestown Housing Project where Thaddeus wildly played spirited Polish polkas on his accordion. Then, however shyly, off to co-ed dances at Dorchester’s B.C. High where Billy attended and graduated.

As wings spread wider we took flight by various means visiting many other curious places of an entirely different sort in the wider world beyond. Among those were weekly Greek dances at Gloucester Harbor with his N.E. College of Pharmacy classmate, friend, and later to be business associate, Harry Ofilos, a  boisterous German Rathskeller on the Bowery of New York,  noisy sing-alongs in a Yankee road house on the Turnpike to Newbury, and much more all now from a vanished time and place away. There were visits to the U.S. Capitol and House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. and homage paid at J.F.K.’s grave with Billy’s youngest brother, Tommy.  From our high school years onward Billy and I were frequently joined in our excursions and escapades by our respective classmates Jerry Viscione and Ralph Vertuccio, Jr.

When higher education for us both was finally finished our paths then diverged and we went our ways. Some few years back Billy, by then a citizen of the world, in conversation acknowledged that by reason of many present factors and realities that past life though fondly remembered, even if wished otherwise, could not be replicated. Billy volunteered, however, that whenever he rode the Blue Line through our former haunts of once empty fields, steep hills and glistening shoreline, in looking out of the rattling subway car windows he never failed to fondly recall that East Boston neighborhood, those houses, the people who had lived in them, those streets, the fields, marshes and hills, that shore, those experiences, the associations. I had to then and do now admit that whenever I ride the Blue Line in passing through that area I too turn in my seat and do the same. Always have and always will.

Time relentlessly moves on. It is now 2015 and even if 1955 seems more like last year to me the fact is that 1955 was sixty years ago. 

The sad news came late on Friday the 13th that after a very long period of serious illness during which he was sustained constantly by the devotion of his loving Wife, Carol, Billy had passed in Florida. It is now then time to write in truth and in gratitude and in tribute to his memory that the adult Bill Bagley, Jr. widely known and beloved as a treasured friend to so many in East Boston, Winthrop and the wider world beyond, was the same person when he was a boy, when he was the Billy that I was privileged to have as my boyhood companion now long ago. As the twig was bent, so the tree grew. Billy, the boy of many years ago became Bill, Jr. the man, a man of fine character, the man that Bill Bagley, Jr. was, a man above all willing to befriend and to help all.

May our friend, Bill Bagley, Jr. now be at peace and at rest in God's eternal embrace in the everlasting company of those dear to him. May the Precious Lord in whom he deeply believed and throughout his life emulated in a living faith by his own boundless charity toward others have as night drew near, taken Billy’s hand and gently led my boyhood companion, the cherished friend of many, home.

Mike Laurano

Michael Laurano, Bill Bagley, Ralph Vertuccio & Jerry Viscione

Mark the date: May 28 Salesian Fundraiser

Demolition Alert : The Old Storage Building on New Street

The Boston Landmarks Commission is holding a community meeting about a developer's  request to tear down the building. Thursday, March 19th, 6:00PM, Maverick Landing Community Room

This just in; Debate set between Madaro & Pomodoro

Tonight JPNA Meeting 3/9 at Yacht Club

JPNA meeting, scheduled for March 9th at 7pm at the Jeffries Yacht Club.

All are welcome.

• Dr. Jackie Fantes, new Chief Medical Officer and resident, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (tentative)
• Claudia Correa, new East Boston Neighborhood Liaison
• 205 Maverick Street, proposal for a retail alcohol location (1st meeting)
• 5 Murray Court, expansion of living space and internal renovation (Voting

BMC Engages Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Family and Integrative Medicine to Provide Care for Children with Chronic Pain

(Boston, MA, March 4, 2015)  – Boston Medical Center (BMC) has opened an interdisciplinary Pediatric Pain Clinic that will help patients and their parents better manage acute, complex and recurrent pain and its lasting effects. The new clinic treats patients with diseases that commonly cause chronic pain, including Sickle Cell Disease, as well as any distressing painful symptom in childhood or adolescence. The Pediatric Pain Clinic is a partnership between BMC’s Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and is collaborating with the Department of Family Medicine and the Program for Integrative Medicine & Health Disparities.

According to the American Pain Society, chronic pain in children is the result of a complex interaction of biological processes, psychological factors, and sociocultural factors, and it is estimated to affect 20 to 35 percent of children and adolescents globally. 

The Pediatric Pain Clinic’s approach to care considers the “cycle of pain.” Recurring pain, or any unpleasant sensory experience associated with harm or injury, often leads to decreased physical activity. A lack of physical activity over time causes a child’s muscles to become shorter, weaker, and deconditioned, a process in which pain sensitivity can be more severe. A child may come to fear their pain, and thus avoid activity altogether. In turn, these events result in more pain for the child and continue the cycle.

“One of our main goals is to enable kids who experience chronic pain to participate in typical, age-appropriate activities by providing better access to chronic pain care,” said Caitlin Neri, MD, medical director of the Pediatric Pain Clinic who is a trained pediatric hematologist and oncologist. “Pain affects all areas of a child’s or adolescent’s life and can have a significant impact on the child’s relationships, schooling, and family life. If it’s not treated properly, the pain can even cause issues that appear later in adulthood.”

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is known to cause some of the most extreme, whole-body pain “crises,” as well as chronic pain that can last for weeks or months at a time. Because hematologists treat patients with SCD, they are well-versed on the negative effects pain can have on these pediatric patients.

“Our experience treating SCD patients will not only help improve access to acute and chronic pain care for these patients, but all painful syndromes that we see in BMC patients,” said Neri.

Providers will utilize an interdisciplinary approach to pain management, and its successful regimens may include: developing pain management plans with a child’s school, physical therapy and home exercise programs, coping and relaxation strategies, cognitive-behavioral therapy, as well as other integrative therapies available at BMC such as acupuncture, aroma therapy, massage therapy, and even yoga.

“Anxiety, stress, and mood issues often play a significant role in worsening a child’s pain, and so the combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and relaxation strategies are essential to effectively treat chronic pain,” said Laura Goldstein, PsyD, co-director of the pain clinic, who specializes in therapeutic interventions to improve medical coping and pain management and is trained in in biofeedback and hypnosis. “As providers, we want to give families hope and empower children to gain control over their pain.” 

“There is often a role for medications in management of pain in children, but we know that medications alone do not completely relieve severe, complex, and chronic pain,” said Neri. “Used in concert with one another, treatments including medications, behavioral interventions, physical therapy, and integrative therapies may all be necessary to address this type of pain.”

The Pediatric Pain Clinic is open for patients on Wednesday afternoons for treatment, which allocates time for families to meet with each of the clinic specialists, including a licensed social worker, as well as schedule same day, on campus appointments with BMC’s integrative medicine team. While all patient evaluations are completed at BMC, some treatment and integrative therapies could be done at appropriate community locations and clinics, and clinic staff also work closely with each patient’s primary care physician.

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About Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center is a private, not-for-profit, 482-bed, academic medical center that is the primary teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine. It is the largest and busiest provider of trauma and emergency services in New England. Committed to providing high-quality health care to all, the hospital offers a full spectrum of pediatric and adult care services including primary and family medicine and advanced specialty care with an emphasis on community-based care. Boston Medical Center offers specialized care for complex health problems and is a leading research institution, receiving more than $118 million in sponsored research funding in fiscal year 2014. It is the 11th largest recipient of funding in the U.S. from the National Institutes of Health among independent hospitals. In 1997, BMC founded Boston Medical Center Health Plan, Inc., now one of the top ranked Medicaid MCOs in the country, as a non-profit managed care organization. It does business in Massachusetts as BMC HealthNet Plan and as Well Sense Health Plan in New Hampshire, serving more than 315,000 people, collectively. Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine are partners in the Boston HealthNet – 14 community health centers focused on providing exceptional health care to residents of Boston. For more information, please visit http://www.bmc.org.

Source: Tim Viall, timothy.viall@bmc.org, 617-638-6857