Health center will expand asthma care services through staff training
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center (GLFHC) has been awarded a grant to help address asthma among patients throughout the Merrimack Valley.
Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, with support from Sanofi, awarded $2 million in grants to 10 community health centers in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to support respiratory health in historically under supported communities. 
GLFHC will use its $195,000 grant to expand its capacity to help patients with asthma by providing 30 clinical staff with in-depth training. Two of these staff will also be able to take the certification exam to become nationally certified asthma educators. The health center will also create an Asthma Care Team to improve care coordination. The team will include clinical pharmacists and nurses, who will be able to offer education sessions to patients to reduce emergency room visits and improve health outcomes. The number of GLFHC patients diagnosed with asthma is 3,200.
Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity mobilizes financial resources for community health centers, free and charitable clinics, and other nonprofit organizations focused on nonclinical interventions that affect a person’s health (social determinants of health). These factors include a person’s physical, social, cultural, and economic environment.
Sanofi’s donation is part of the company’s “Breathe Easier” campaign, which focuses on the intersection of the environment and human health, and supports communities experiencing a high burden of respiratory illness.