LEBANON – Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a common chronic gastrointestinal disease among teens and young adults. Many young people entering college or moving out of their parents’ homes need to manage IBD during their young adult years. Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) now offers Teaching Health Resilience in IBD Through Virtual Engagement (THRIVE) as a telehealth clinic to help young adults, between 18 and 26 years old, living with IBD adjust during this time of transition.

“Our new THRIVE clinic is tailored to the needs of young adults with inflammatory bowel disease with busy schedules and who are navigating transitioning from pediatric to adult care. The clinic aims to not only keep bowel inflammation under control, but also to address the mental health, school and social stressors that can co-exist while living with IBD in early adulthood,” said Michael Winter, MD, gastroenterologist at DHMC. “THRIVE provides a multi-disciplinary intake TeleVisit with a gastroenterologist, psychologist and social worker, with pharmacists and nutritionists also available.”

The THRIVE clinic was established with funds received from the Susan & Richard Levy Health Care Delivery Incubator which supports the development of innovative healthcare delivery solutions. Winter’s presented his teams idea during an annual pitch event explaining that suboptimal IBD care in adolescents and young adults can have life-altering impacts, increasing risk for hospitalization, surgery, opioid use disorder and colorectal cancer.

The goal is to provide patients with a comprehensive treatment plan addressing stress, body image concerns, insurance, infusions and injections, review medication concerns and coordinate other services as needed. THRIVE can serve as a sole IBD care provider, or work in collaboration in co-management with a previous gastroenterology care team.

For more information visit go.d-h.org/ibd-thrive or email thrive@hitchcock.org