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Power in partnership: The Boston Medical Center–Ellie Fund collaboration in action
August 25, 2025
“Meet Ellie” cards are distributed at BMC to introduce patients to the types of support services the Ellie Fund provides.
Navigating a breast cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming. From understanding treatment options to managing daily logistics, patients may face barriers that extend well beyond hospital walls. That’s where partnerships like that between Alliance grantee Boston Medical Center (BMC) and the Ellie Fund make a powerful difference.
The Ellie Fund, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit, provides essential support services such as transportation, grocery assistance, childcare reimbursement and meal delivery to patients, which allows them to focus on healing. Through its collaboration with BMC’s oncology team and patient navigators, Ellie Fund’s services are reaching more patients than ever.
A relationship rooted in shared purpose
Since its inception, the BMC–Ellie Fund partnership has grown to meet evolving patient needs.
“We’ve always had a strong relationship with patient navigators,” says Cheryl Whetstone, Director of Patient Services at the Ellie Fund. “At one point, we primarily interacted with patient specialists or managers, but now we also work directly with doctors, nurses and radiology specialists.”
Support from the Alliance grant has further strengthened this collaboration, helping establish more systematic ways to identify patients in need and connect them to the Ellie Fund. By enhancing coordination between navigators and providers, the grant has contributed to a more efficient and broad-reaching referral process.
BMC also recently welcomed a representative from the Ellie Fund to its external advisory board, enhancing strategic conversations around reducing disparities and providing patient-centered support.
Meeting patient needs with compassion
Among the most common unmet needs for BMC’s breast cancer patients are transportation, financial assistance and language support, areas which both the Ellie Fund and patient navigation play a vital role in addressing.
“Our patients always express how much of a difference Ellie Fund made during their treatment,” shared patient navigators Jackie Hernandez and Kasia Szafranska. “They appreciate not just the tangible services, but the compassion behind them.”
One of the most effective strategies for strengthening collaboration has been a simple one: information cards. “Meet Ellie” cards are distributed at BMC to introduce patients to the types of support services the Ellie Fund provides. A downloadable one-pager and online resources further support easy access for both patients and care teams.
Whetstone and Nekia Clark, Director of Community Engagement & Outreach at the Ellie Fund, shared that the cards often serve as a touchstone. “We recognize that right after a diagnosis, patients are processing a lot. The goal is to provide something they can come back to when they’re ready—whether that’s days or weeks later.”
This work aligns with BMC’s broader strategy to address social determinants of health. The hospital developed THRIVE, an electronic health record–based model that screens primary care patients for social needs and automatically generates tailored resource referrals. THRIVE exemplifies how hospitals can systematically connect patients to in-house and community-based resources like the Ellie Fund.
To assess impact, the Ellie Fund uses tools like the Perceived Stress Scale to track changes in emotional well-being before and after support. They also monitor referral sources, allowing for more targeted outreach. At BMC, referrals have increased in part due to educational sessions that inform staff about services, outcomes and referral pathways.
As 2025 approaches, both organizations aim to deepen their collaboration. As Hernandez and Szafranska put it: “The more barriers we can help them overcome, the better their chances of completing treatment and healing.”
Written by: Julia Vance (BMC) and Meghan Gunn