AYER — A new partnership announced by Governor Maura Healey on Tuesday will focus on improving health outcomes in Ayer through local coalition-building and targeted strategies to address disparities in care.
The initiative — launched in collaboration with The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts and the Health Equity Partnership of North Central Mass — is part of the state’s broader Advancing Health Equity in Massachusetts (AHEM) program, which supports 30 communities working to eliminate racial, economic, and regional health disparities.
“We formed this initiative to eliminate racial, economic, and regional disparities in health outcomes, with a focus on improving maternal and heart health and addressing the social determinants of health,” Healey said. “We’ve already gotten to work in communities across the state, and it’s great that we’re now expanding to Ayer and the Nashoba Valley region. Our administration is applying an equity lens to everything we do and, as a result, we’re improving health outcomes for Massachusetts residents in every region of the state.”
The Health Equity Partnership received a three-year, $250,000 grant from The Health Foundation to build a coalition in Ayer focused on addressing the root causes of health disparities, such as limited access to health care and other social determinants of health. The project will engage a local organization and resident leaders to guide planning and collaboration across multiple communities. The state’s Advancing Health Equity in Massachusetts (AHEM) initiative will support the effort with technical assistance in data, outreach, communications, and strategy development related to cardiometabolic, maternal, and perinatal health.
“With the closure of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center last year in addition to the many ongoing challenges and obstacles facing access to health care in the Nashoba Valley Region, the formation and funding of a dedicated coalition to include the Health Foundation and CHNA 9 to develop strategies to improve health care through community engagement and collaboration is an important first step to understanding and solving the barriers and obstacles to health care across the region,” said Robert Pontbriand, Ayer’s Town Manager.
The collaboration with The Health Foundation and the Health Equity Partnership of North Central Mass is part of the state’s broader effort to partner with private sector organizations to reduce health inequities. Similar AHEM partnerships have already been launched in New Bedford, Chicopee, Brockton, Lawrence, and Lowell.
For more information about the AHEM program, visit the organization’s website here.
