CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Heidi Nelson of Duffy Health Center and Dr. Omar Ghoneim of Harbor Health Services talk about the role of community health centers on Cape Cod.
HYANNIS – The five community health centers on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard serve a combined total of 50,000 patients, according to Heidi Nelson, CEO of Duffy Health Center in Hyannis. That is almost one quarter of the population of Cape Cod.
This week, from August 10 to 16, is National Health Center Week and local health centers on the Cape and Islands are reaching out to let the community know the role they play in local health care.
Nelson said, in order to be considered a community health center, an entity “must provide health care for people in need with no regard for their ability to pay.”
The health centers have a geographic service area or in Duffy’s case, a target population of the homeless. Federal guidelines state that the centers must do outreach in the community and have consumer representation on their board.
There are five community health centers that serve the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard.
The network of community health centers in the region consists of Duffy Health Center, which serves the Cape’s homeless population or those without stable housing; Harbor Health Services, which has several locations in the region; Community Health Center of Cape Cod, which has its main site in Mashpee and serves the Upper Cape; Outer Cape Health Services, which serves the Lower and Outer Cape; and Island Health Services, which is a rural health clinic on Martha’s Vineyard.
All five centers have all received the federal designation of community health center and the federal funding that comes with it.
Nelson said, the concept of community health centers grew out of the model of the Office of Economic Opportunity and efforts in the 60s to involve people in their own care.
In the case of Duffy Health Center, Nelson said the agency’s mission is “to improve the quality of life for people who are homeless or unstably housed on Cape Cod through a blend of medical services, mental health and substance abuse counseling, and case management for people who have the greatest challenges finding and keeping housing.”
Over the last 12 months, Duffy has served 3,200 people on Cape Cod, Nelson said.
The largest community health center in this region is Harbor Health Services, which has eight centers, including several in the Boston area. One of their centers, Geiger Gibson Community Health Center in Dorchester was the nation’s first community health center, according to Dr. Omar Ghoneim, Corporate Dental Director at Harbor Health Services.
Harbor is celebrating its 50th year this December.
Ghoneim said Dr. Geiger and Dr. Gibson came up with the neighborhood health centers concept through their work in South Africa and brought that concept here to Massachusetts.
“The benefit for patients is you have medical care all under one roof,” he said.
Ghoneim said there are several reasons why community health centers work well.
“With the Affordable Care Act and the move to try to coordinate care and make it easier and more seamless for patients and providers, you’re able to provide more coordinated, comprehensive care for patients,” he said.
Harbor Health’s sites on Cape Cod are in Harwich and Hyannis. It also has a site in Plymouth, one in Mattapan and four sites in Dorcester, including three Women Infant Children (WIC) centers.
“Our growth has been based on the need in all those areas,” Ghoneim said of Harbor’s locations.
Over the past fiscal year, Harbor Health had over 44,000 visitors, Ghoneim, with one third of those visits for dental care.
Listen below to hear Heidi Nelson, CEO of Duffy Health Center, and Dr. Omar Ghoneim, Corporate Dental Director at Harbor Health Services, discuss the role of community health centers on the Cape and Islands.
Congratulations to the community health centers on the Cape. At Everseat – we tip our hats to the entire Community Health Center movement, across the US – with deep roots in Massachusetts of course. We provide a technology efficiency solution that strengthens the provider-patient relationship by making it much easier to schedule appointments. And we look forward to working with CHCs on the cape and across the land. Here’s a tribute to the centers, on our blog today: https://www.everseat.com/blog/happy-50th-birthday-to-9-000-of-the-most-patient-focused-clinics-we-know
Wow, a lot of PR and pats on the back going on here.
So, community health centers developed to serve an underserved population…..the uninsured. Massachusetts has had mandatory health insurance for how long now?
Medical, mental health, and substance abuse all under one roof. And the results are what? Homelessness is increasing with some even being imported from Boston and the chief of police in Hyannis, the location of the homeless shelter, is saying it needs to go. Hm, does that sound like a success story?
Substance abuse. Well, the cops now carry narcan in their cruisers. Is that a sign of progress or a drug problem out of control? It’s the latter in case you are confused.
Mental health. Mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness pretty much go hand in hand. So another non success story.
So, community health centers are a good theory that has fallen way short of the rhetoric used to create them but has been a financial taxpayer dollar boom to those who invest in them.
Sad that we pat ourselves on the back for this.