10-22-12 Feature Story:
Recruitment for community health centers to serve as community-based practice sites for the next class of Kraft Fellows and Practitioners is currently underway. The application deadline is November 15. Community health centers from across Massachusetts are welcome to apply.
The Kraft Center for Community Health is dedicated to building a strong workforce of mission-driven physicians and nurses who are committed to improving the health of our communities. Established in 2011 by a generous gift from the Kraft family to Partners HealthCare, the Kraft Center's overall purpose is to expand access to high quality health care for low income and vulnerable populations. In an innovative twist, it aims to accomplish this goal by developing physician-leaders dedicated to tackling health inequality at the patient care, policy, management, and research levels, and by recruiting and retaining superb physicians and nurses in community health centers - a proven approach to sustaining a high quality of care.
The Kraft Center welcomed its inaugural class of 19 physicians and nurses this past July. Physicians participating in the two-year, post-residency Kraft Fellowship Program will earn a Master's of Public Health degree at the Harvard School of Public Health, while also engaging in clinical practice at a local community health center, completing a scholarly or quality improvement project, and taking advantage of the range of mentoring and leadership development opportunities the program offers.
The two-year Kraft Practitioner Program, which is open to physicians and masters-prepared nurses already working at a community health center, frees up one day per week of participants' time, making it possible for them to take part in a host of learning and leadership development activities organized by the program. Both Kraft Center programs offer loan repayment as an incentive to keep participants in community health for the longer-term.
Together with the League, the Kraft Center for Community Health is actively collaborating with 12 community health centers to ensure the best possible community-based learning experiences for Kraft Center participants.
