New Health Clinic Opens in Charlestown

For Charlestown residents struggling with addiction or know someone who is, there is a place you can find help. The NEW Health Charlestown clinic opened in the neighborhood last week to provide comprehensive care to a population whose struggles with drugs often have gone unnoticed and untreated.

NEW Health Charlestown is a subsidiary of North End Waterfront Health (NEW Health). It will operate in what used to be the St. Catherine of Siena school. The facility will join an existing clinic in the neighborhood run by Massachusetts General Hospital.

It will have a staff of 26, ranging from primary-care physicians to dentists to substance-abuse counselors. The facility believes it will have a holistic approach that aims to prevent problems before they start and treat the bodies and minds of patients who otherwise might not seek help.

NEW Health Charlestown seeks to combat the tragic statistic growing out of the opioid crisis in the town.

According to the latest comparable data from city and state agencies, the annual rate of deaths related to substance abuse in Charlestown was nearly twice the Massachusetts number and outpaced Boston as a whole by 22 percent.

Boston police have responded to 25 nonfatal overdoses in Charlestown this year. Many activists predict the actual total of overdoses in the town is much higher because so many go unreported. Three Charlestown residents had died of overdoses through mid-August.

In addition, the prevalence of hepatitis C in Charlestown — an indicator of intravenous drug use — has been the worst of any Boston neighborhood and nearly six times the city average, according to Boston Public Health Commission data.

NEW Health Charlestown will accept all insurances including Medicare, MassHealth, Neighborhood Health Plan Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tufts, Harvard Pilgrim, BMC HealthNet, and Network Health as well as access to the Commonwealth’s Safety Net Pool. Patients will have access to referrals at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Medical Center, depending on their insurance.