Participants in a community-based partnership involving New Bedford and Fall River and led by the City of New Bedford Health Department, the Southeastern Health Initiative for Transformation (SHIFT) Program, were invited by Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) officials to attend a Learning Session on June 3, 2014 at the Double Tree Hotel in Westboro, MA. The project is part of the Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund (PWTF), a new, first-in-the-nation, $60 million grant opportunity created by the MA Legislature to reduce health-care costs related to tobacco use, hypertension, pediatric asthma, and falls among the elderly. The SHIFT Program will focus on two ZIP codes in New Bedford and Fall River with some of the highest incidences of these conditions in the Commonwealth. The partnership includes more than 25 different clinical, community and municipal partners. Click here for a 14-minute video of a presentation on falls prevention by Drs. Nancy Dluhy of UMass-D and Jonathan Howland of Boston Medical Center.   Click here for photos of a recent site visit with DPH. For more information, contact New Bedford Public Health Director Dr. Brenda Weis at 508-991-6199.