Lifespan Community Health Institute

Lifespan in Our Community

Lifespan Community Health Institute (LCHI) is your source for better health in Rhode Island and its surrounding communities.  

Lifespan coordinates hundreds of programs, events and community service activities that serve between 25,000 and 30,000 southern New Englanders annually.

Programs are provided through Lifespan's partner hospitals and are often offered free or at a reduced cost to the community.

Lifespan Community Connection

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Rhode Island. Carrie Bridges Feliz, MPH, Lifespan vice president for community health and equity, and Southern New England American Heart Association’s (AHA) Executive Director Michelle Clark, get to the heart of Rhode Island’s heart health during a discussion about the two organizations’ years-long partnership.

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Our Mission

The mission of the Lifespan Community Health Institute is to eliminate health disparities and promote health equity through healthy behaviors, healthy relationships, and healthy environments.

The LCHI envisions a Rhode Island/region in which all people can achieve their full health potential. We will do this by improving the social, economic and environmental conditions in our communities and by increasing access to high quality health services. Strategies include developing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating initiatives to improve the health status of the people in Rhode Island and southern New England. Through strategic partnerships, LCHI also serves as a liaison/bridge between Lifespan departments and the community, through one-off events and through ongoing relationships. This includes our work through the Community Health Ambassadors and other stakeholder groups.

Koren Carbuccia, a community health worker with the Transitions Clinic, accompanies Lisa Vazquez on a medical appointment.

Helping Ease the Transition

Koren Carbuccia, a community health worker with the Transitions Clinic, accompanies Lisa Vazquez on a medical appointment at the Rhode Island  Hospital Center for Primary Care on Chapman Street in Providence. The program pairs medically complex recently released prisoners with health workers who have once been incarcerated to provide intensive, hands-on peer support. 

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Our Values

  • Respect all people
  • Empower people with information, skills and tools 
  • Solicit community voice
  • Practice transparent and open communication
  • Perform assertive and compassionate advocacy

Free Diabetes Prevention Program Improves the Way You Live

The free Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) at the Lifespan Community Health Institute is an evidence-based program that teaches people at risk for developing diabetes how to implement a healthy lifestyle with the goal of preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes. 

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Lifespan Community Health Institute

Located in Providence, RI