A Letter from Dr. Lara Setti

Dear BRIDGE supporters,

As a doctor, I treat patients every day who want to be more healthy, for both themselves and their families. We all know how challenging this can be: to eat right, get enough sleep, manage stress, exercise more, take medications if we need them. Yet for many in our communities confronting racial, gender, immigrant, disability and other biases in their daily lives, this is so much more difficult.

My work as a family physician over the past few decades, has highlighted for me the reality of health disparities for these groups of people. We know that people of color in the United States have far worse health care outcomes than their white counterparts: higher rates of preterm labor and infant mortality, worse access to health care, higher rates of death for similar disease processes (such as cancer, asthma, heart disease, HIV and diabetes) and the list goes on. So, I ask myself, as I am sure many of you do, what can I do to be part of the solution and not simply another part of the problem? A central part of the answer for me has been to join the already incredible work of Multicultural BRIDGE right here in our community.

We know that health is more than what happens in a doctor’s office. Health is all around us: our schools, our jobs, our communities. That’s just one of the reasons I’m proud to serve as the Board Chair for Multicultural BRIDGE. BRIDGE connects vulnerable community members with networks and key resources, while also advancing equity and justice -- key pieces of community health -- by providing education and consultation to local institutions like hospitals, law enforcement, public safety and municipal leaders, as well as to the community at large.  

Whether it’s acting as a partner of the Berkshire Opioid Addiction Prevention Collaborative -- leading culturally-competent conversations of addiction, recovery and treatment -- or helping young people learn resiliency, communication skills and conflict resolution through the Happiness Toolbox program, BRIDGE is laying the groundwork to good health for all of us.

BRIDGE has spent the last decade cultivating health and equity across our communities, and we’re just getting started! As 2018 comes to a close, please consider making a donation to BRIDGE to help us keep the momentum going.

Thank you,
Dr. Lara Setti
Multicultural BRIDGE Board Chair

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thank you from the board

We want to close with a special shout out to JV Hampton-VanSant for their contribution of gender identity and gender trainings for the workplace within the BRIDGE cultural humility training in their authentic leadership on this topic as Massachusetts leads the nation with transgender rights!
 
Another special shout out to Jeff Lowenstein in co-leading Spanish for the Workplace with native and Spanish-language learners in banking!

And Stephanie Wright and Silvia Soria for leading our Women to Women program with heart and compassion!

Thank you for joining the BRIDGE board of directors and giving to BRIDGE and showing immense gratitude and support to our staff.

~ Lara, Steve, AJ, Christy, Patrick, Arsema and Ari!