Taking Care

Portraits of organizations providing assistance to Cape and Island residents in need.

AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod
Over 500 people on Cape Cod live with HIV or AIDS, many of whom rely on the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod.

All Cape Parrot Rescue & Adoption
All Cape Parrot Rescue & Adoption was established in 2003 when the founders became aware of the large number of parrots that were living lives of neglect and abuse.

Alzheimer's Services of Cape Cod and the Islands
Approximately 8,500 people have Alzheimer's disease on Cape Cod and the Islands, and the numbers are expected to increase.

Audible Local Ledger
The Audible Local Ledger is an affiliate of the Massachusetts Radio Reading Service , a special state-wide radio information network that provides the reading of daily newspapers, current periodicals, shopping guides, best selling books, calendars of community events and other material previously available only in print.

Autism
Autism is relatively new and mysterious but is now the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorder in the U.S.

Barnstable County New Directions
For people seeking treatment for substance abuse, one of the best therapies can be opening their minds to new, substance-free experiences.

Barnstable County Prison Labor Program
County inmates learn vocational skills and help the community.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod and the Islands
A non-profit volunteer mentoring organization whose mission it is to match children from single parent homes with adult mentors in the community. Presently Big Brothers Big Sisters has 400 children matched with adult mentors throughout Cape Cod and the Islands. 300 others are waiting to be matched, two-thirds of which are boys.

Bridge to Hope
This organization uses mentors to help women prisoners make the transition from prison back to civiilan life.

Cape Cod Free Clinic
About eight or nine percent of Massachusetts residents are uninsured, but on Cape Cod the number is much higher - because of the seasonal nature of work on the Cape, about eighteen percent of Cape residents have no health insurance. The Cape Cod Free Clinic was founded specifically to serve the uninsured.

CapeAbilities
This Hyannis organization helps people with disabilities lead productive and fulfilling lives.

Cape Mediation
Cape Mediation of Orleans is a group dedicated to helping people settle their disagreements by promoting communication and cooperation.

Children's Cove
Children's Advocacy Centers like Children's Cove in Barnstable work to reduce the trauma experienced by sexually abused children.

Clothesline Project
The Cape and Islands have the highest per-capita rate of domestic violence in Massachusetts, an alarming trend often fueled by substance abuse and the pressures of surviving in a volatile seasonal economy. Sixteen years ago, The Clothesline Project was founded on Cape Cod as a compelling way for abused women to tell their stories, and begin the healing process.

Community Connections
Cape Cod residents with disabilities and their families face special challenges. Community Connections is dedicated to helping people with disabilities lead active lives.

Duffy Heath Cener
The Duffy Health Center provides medical services to the uninsured and homeless living on Cape Cod.

Elder Abuse
Sean Corcoran reports on an increasing problem, abuse and exploitation of the elderly on Cape Cod and the Islands.

Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands
Many families are unprepared for the challenges of caring for their elderly family members. One local organization is helping.

Elf n Wood Stables
Equestrian therapy for those with physical, cognitive, or emotional challenges is a new and growing field that has touched the lives of many.

The Emancipation Network
An East Sandwich non-profit is helping women who've been trapped in prostitution trafficking around the world improve their lives by turning their creative abilities into marketable skills.

The Falmouth Education Foundation
Cuts in state aid have left schools across the Cape struggling to provide adequate instruction. Teachers have especially scant funds for technology based projects. To alleviate this, there's a new community effort in Falmouth.

Guindon House
Structure and daily attention can make the difference between ex- convicts returning to a life of and crime and breaking the cycle of recidivism- Guindon House in Barnstable seeks to help former prisoners.

Helping Our Women
When a woman faces a cancer diagnosis, it's a permanently life-altering experience - and finding the right support system can help soften the impact. There are also practical issues like getting to and from treatment, an especially big problem on the Outer Cape. For fourteen years, a Provincetown organization has helped women deal with the emotional impacts, and day-to-day implications, of living with cancer or other chronic illnesses.

Housing Assistance Corporation
The Housing Assistance Corporation's mission is ensuring that everyone on Cape Cod has a "safe, stable and decent" place to live.

The Island Health Clinic
The Island Health Clinic provides a wide assortment of medical services to uninsured and underinsured residents and visitors to Martha's Vineyard.

Izzy Thomson
One woman's good works for the needy.

Latham Center: Gilbough Program
Millions of Americans struggle with over-eating, but for a small percentage of the population the desire to eat is literally ever-present.

Hurricane Katrina Evacuees at Camp Edwards
Some Hurricane Katrina evacuees have left Camp Edwards while others are hoping to make a fresh start on Cape Cod.

Mary McCarthy Hospice House
As the general population ages, many on the Cape and islands choose to seek care and comfort from one of several hospice organizations.

Mattakeese Wharf Benefit
More than a dozen Cape restaurants and food purveyors gathered Tuesday evening at Mattakeese Wharf in Barnstable Village to help out two of their own.

Medical Interpreters
The medical interpreting profession is in its infancy. Only a handful of states, including California, mandate access to medical interpreters. Cape Cod Community College is teaching young interpreters the often complicated skill of helping immigrants on the Cape communicate with their doctors.

Neo-Natal Support Group
Approximately one in every five pregnancies results in miscarriage, one local group helps women cope.

Overnights of Hospitality
Each night during the winter, the homeless seek shelter as an alternative to the streets. Thanks to a new cooperative program involving local churches, the number of people that can be sheltered has increased.

Post-Partum Depression Support Group
In the weeks and months following childbirth, many women find themselves caught in the grip of post- partum depression.

Provincetown Swim for Life
Every September hundreds of swimmers plunge into Provincetown Harbor for the annual Swim for Life AIDS benefit.

Quashnet Elementary School
The Quashnet Elementary Schoool in Mashpee is piloting a program to help children who have experienced trauma.

Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands
New technologies are helping people who've suffered strokes rehabilitate.

A Safe Place
As everywhere else in the world there are victims -- and survivors -- of domestic abuse on Nantucket.

Shellfishermen's Support Fund
Shellfishermen working the flats of the outer Cape were idled for weeks by the worst red tide outbreak in thirty years. Two outer Cape human service agencies have responded by creating a fund to help shellfishermen recover.

Sight Loss Services
Each year, many Cape Cod residents learn that their eyesight is declining, and that they need to change their lifestyles to adapt. Sight Loss Services in Dennis helps people who face this i ssue.

Taking Care of Roadkill
Treating dead animals with dignity.

Tooth Tutors
Dental disease is the number one childhood disease in the US. It is almost completely preventable yet, many children on the Cape and Islands don't get regular preventative dental care.

Taxes and Illegal Immigration
The Community Economic Development Corporation in New Bedford helps undocumented workers do their taxes -- and perhaps earn a shot at citizenship.

Victims' Advocates
Fifteen victim advocates work out of the DA's office to help people on the Cape who have been traumatized by crime.

Veterans Outreach Center
The Hyannis center helps many of the estimated 50,000 veterans on the Cape.

The Vineyard House
Over the past eight years, The Vineyard House has been a safe and sober place where addicts can help themselves.

Visiting Nurse Hospice and Palliative Care
The VNA Hospice program provides care and support to patients and families facing terminal illness.

WE CAN
WE CAN provides support for Cape women in need.

YouthBuild
One third of all New Bedford high school students drop-out. A non-profit called YouthBuild works with forty of them, teaching the teenagers the construction trade and helping them earn their GEDs.

Listing of various community resources.

Stories in the Taking Care series are funded in-part by a grant from the United Way of Cape Cod and the Islands.