Bowditch Health Center holds first open house
Posted Friday, June 6, 2008 by Amanda Garrison

Thursday, June 5, 2008
By Vivian Ho
SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
(c) Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER - Elm Park-area residents last night were introduced to their new health center, the first of its kind in the state.

Residents were invited to an open house at the Helen A. Bowditch Health Center at Elm Park Community School and were invited to take advantage of free blood pressure screenings, health insurance counseling and presentations on after-school programs that will be available. Healthy refreshments and prizes for children also were offered.

Amanda Garrison, development assistant for the Family Health Center, which oversees operation of the Elm Park program, said the open house was primarily intended for residents of the neighborhod. "We've done a lot of outreach in the community...but we just wanted to wait for a nice time of the year for people to come out to the health center."

The community open house provided tours of the center, free blood pressure screenings, health benefits advising, as well as presentations of after school programs offered by th ecenter, healthy refreshments and give-aways for children.

Frances M. Anthes, president and chief executive officer of Family Health, said the open house allowed residents to see and learn more about the new health center, at 23 N. Ashland St. The center will be available to Elm Park Community School students and neighborhood residents from 3:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Services include primary health care, wellness and exercise programs, immunizations, health assessments and health education, disease management, prenatal care, dental services, pharmacy services and lab and X-ray services.


State health insurance law starting to make a difference
Posted Thursday, May 1, 2008 by Amanda Garrison

Thursday, May 1, 2008
By Richard T. Moore
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE COMMENTARY
(c) Telegram & Gazette

While the national uninsured rate continues to rise, two years after the historic launch of Massachusetts Health Care reform more than 300,000 formerly uninsured individuals now have health coverage.

That is a remarkable achievement by any measure. For our health care system, the change means quality care for more Massachusetts residents that is also cost-effective.

There are signs that we are headed in the right direction. A recent report by the state demonstrates that the law is already reducing state-paid free care. As enrollment in the state's Medicaid and the Commonwealth Care insurance programs has increased, the number of free-care visits has decreased by 16 percent.

This trend away from reliance on high-cost emergency and specialty care - and toward comprehensive insurance coverage and access to preventative primary care - takes the state one step closer to building a better health care system.

But what does this mean for someone who is newly insured?

One of my constituents in North Uxbridge can now afford the six medications she neds to take each day to control her chronic illness. Before obtaining health insurance through Commonwealth Care, she was paying about $500 per month for medications that are essential for keeping her healthier and living an active, productive life.

Now she pays about $6 a month for savings of over $5,900 a year.

Research has shown that providing affordable health coverage to more residents lowers overall health care costs. Uninsured patients often seek only sporadic care in costly emergency rooms or, worse, postpone necessary medical care and end up in the hospital. With insurance, patients feel empowered to see a doctor before they get too sick.

Even better, many develop a relationship with a primary care doctor and take advantage of disease prevention and wellness programs that can make their lives measurably healthier.

Our region's community health centers - Family Health Center of Worcester, Great Brook Valley Health Center and Tri-River Family Health Center - are examples of where and how the new health reform efforts are working.

These health centers are actively enrolling local residents into health insurance programs and making a real difference in the health of their communities through primary and preventive care, disease management programs and wellness initiatives that emphasize the benefits of nutrition and exercise.

While other states are struggling to provide health care to their residents, Massachusetts has made real progress in providing more residents with comprehensive, quality, affordable coverage that allows them to access preventative care. Our state has the programs and the support of a broad coalition of political, health care, business and consumer leaders to make it a reality.

When you consider the alternative - increasing numbers of uninsured, unsustainable health care costs and lower quality - is there really another choice?

Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, is Senate Chairman of the Committee on Health Care Financing.


Health Care Heroes
Community Service: Worcester Healthy Start Initiative
Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008 by Amanda Garrison

Monday, March 31, 2008
By Ken St. Onge
WORCESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL
(c) Worcester Business Journal

There have been many babies born to motherss in and around Worcester who might not be here were it not for a program run by Great Brook Valley Health Center, which aims to improve infant mortality rates in the city of Worcester.

Called the Worcester Healthy Start Initiative, the 8-year-old, federally funded program works through four sites scattered throughout the city where mothers-to-be can obtain some care while they are pregnant, said G. Mike Portuphy, program director. The program also helps the women connect with transportation programs, food voucher programs and other social services in the community such as the Worcester Community Action Council.

"We are really trying to work together for the health of the community," Portuphy said.

Reducing Disparities

The health center first applied for a grant to run the program in 1999, and received funding in 2000, which was renewed in 2004. It is part of a nationwide program designed to combat infant mortality.

Great Brook Valley is the lead agency for the project in Worcester. The other sites working with the project are Pernet Family Health Services on Millbury Street, the Family Health Center on Queen Street, and UMass Memorial Medical Center.

The program has twin goals of eliminating racial disparities in health care and improving birth outcomes in the city, particularly among black women.

More than 7,000 women have used the program's services since it was established.

It starts early, with enrollment in the free program coming as soon after conception as possible.

Once enrolled in the WHSI, women have access to case managers and nurse managers who work with participants to ensure access to medical and dental care, childbirth education, substance abuse counseling and other necessary services. Fathers, too, can use the program's services.

Many of those enrolled in the WHSI are in risk groups that have higher infant mortality rates. The initiative also targets high-risk populations, such as immigrants, blacks and those with low incomes. They also target thsoe who are vulnerable to risky health behaviors such as drug use, violence or smoking.

Many program participants are recent immigrants who speak little or no English.

The results over the life of the program have been staggering, and show a significant effect on infant mortality rates in the city, particularly among African-Americans.

In the early days of the program - between 1999 and 2001 - the average infant mortality rate for black babies in the city was 27.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, Portuphy said.

That rate declined significantly after the program had been established. Between 2004 and 2006, the infant mortality rate for that same group fell to 15.53 deaths per 1,000 live births.

On the whole, between 2000 and 2006, the infant mortality rate for the city of Worcester stood at 8.1 deaths per thousand live births. For program participants, thta number was 5 deaths per 1,000 live births over the same time period.

Both, however, still trail the state average, which is 4.9 deaths per live births.

"Across the city, since this program has started, the infant mortality rate has dropped significantly," Portuphy said. "We are not saying we are entirely responsible for that, but we do think that this Healthy Start Initiative has contributed to that improvement.

When you look at these numbers, it's obvious that the participants have better outcomes and lower mortality rates than the rest of the city."

The program employs about 14 case managers scattered throughout the four sites, and is paid for with a $750,000 annual grant which is renewed on 4-year schedules. It's set to renew again in May, and although the program hasn't received word yet that it has been funded, Portuphy expects to continue the work of the group in 2008, he said.

Another fact about which the program can boast: The amount of cash it's ended up saving the government.

In house data shows that, between 2001 and 2005, the program saved the government an estimated net $780,000, which would otherwise have been spent on taking care of low-birth-weight babies and other Medicaid-eligible spending no medical care.


Family Health Center to celebrate 35 years
Helping hands to be honored
Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 by Amanda Garrison

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
By Ashley Bishop
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE CORRESPONDENT
abishop@telegram.com
(c) Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER - For the past 35 years, the Family Health Center of Worcester has provided health care to city residents from all walks of life.

More than 25,000 people pass through the doors of 26 Queen St. each year, and regardless of financial or cultural background, each individual is given the care they need.

On Friday, the Health Center will celebrate its 35th anniversary during a soiree at Mechanics Hall. The event will honor 35 people in the community - from politicians to medical professionals - who have supported the health center's growth and development.

According to organizers, each of the 35 "helping hands" has helped to shape the health center's success.

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray and U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, are among the 35 who will be honored.

"When we think about all Family Health has accomplished over the last 35 years, we quickly remember the people who made it all possible," said Frances M. Anthes, president of the Health Center. "We have been blessed with many, many helping hands throughout the years."

In 1974, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, then also new to the city, teamed up with the Family Health Center to create a Family Practice Residency Program. The program has trained 130 physicians since its inception, and has allowed the Family Health Center to expand into the state-of-the-art clinic it is today.

Along with providing health and dental care, social services and an on-site pharmacy for patients, the health center also employs translators in more than five languages to help accomodate Worcester's diverse population. Forty percent of patients at the center require translation services.

"I think everyone should spend time in the Family Health Center waiting room," said Honee A. Hess, vice chairwoman for the Family Health Center Board. "It's a mini-United Nations, and you will see people of differing cultural backgrounds as family members, parents and patients who deserve the best health care."

The following 35 individuals and groups will be honored during Friday's event: Jane Ashe, Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr., the Bowditch Family, Denise Brotherton, Dr. Lucy Candib, Kirk A. Carter, state Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, Fairman Cowan, the Family Health Center of Worcester Care Team, Mary and Warner Fletcher, Ann Flynn, Lindsay Foley, John Ford, David Forsberg, James Hooley, James Hunt Jr., Dr. Daniel Lasser, Ann T. Lisi, Monica Escobar Lowell, Marie McCarthy-Kaye, Mr. McGovern, Ogretta V. McNeil, Diane Meystre, Charles Monahan, Mr. Murray, Sang Nguyen, Kevin O'Sullivan, Robert P. Powers, Marge Purves, Christina Rivera, Peter A. Stefan, Zoila Torres Feldman, Julia Vera, Dr. Linda Weinreb and Dr. Janice Yost.


American Red Cross Recognizes Local Community Heroes
Posted Friday, March 21, 2008 by Amanda Garrison

The American Red Cross held "A Breakfast of Champions" on Thursday, March 20, 2008 to celebrate the heroic acts of six local residents. Among those recognized were Family Health Center of Worcester's Volunteer Coordinator, Amy Grassette.

"Amy's willingness to share her emotional story has helped to educate the public on the face of homelessness. Amy's perception of homelessness was "Veterans, drunks...not families" - that is until it happened to her family. Shuffling their children among relatives and enduring shelter life certainly changed Amy's life. But now Amy's adversities are helping others. Amy began by sharing her story with the United Way of Central Massachusetts by volunteering to speak to agencies and businesses during their campaign. Today, Amy serves on the Mayor's Hunger Task Force, Worcester's Homeless Action Committee, Central Mass Housing and a UMass research project, Benefits and Services When Exiting a Shelter. Nationally, Amy is Co-Chair on the Health Care for Homeless National Consumer Advisory Board and has spoken during the House of Representatives briefing on this issue. Amy [also works] at the Family Health Center of Worcester, helping families through the process of qualifying for food stamps.

"Thank you, Amy, for sharing your personal experience, making a significant impact by helping others."

-American Red Cross Salute to Amy Grassette, Thursday, March 20, 2008

FHCW Staff Psychologist Publishes Book
Posted Friday, October 19, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Craig Wiener, staff psychologist of Family Health Center of Worcester, Inc.'s (FHCW) Social Services department, recently released his book in May of 2007 titled: "ADHD as a Learned Behavioral Pattern: A Less Medicinal, More Self Reliant Collaborative Intervention."

Mr. Wiener will be attending a book signing on Saturday, Oct. 20 from 7pm-9pm at Barnes and Noble on 541 D Lincoln Street, Worcester, MA 01605. He has already been featured on Worcester's TV13 show "Coffee with Konnie," where he was interviewed by Worcester Mayor Konnie Lukes.

For more information, please visit the University Press of America website at www.univpress.com. All are invited to attend the Barnes and Noble Book Signing.

PHOTO: Family Health Center Board Chairperson, Janelle Salmon-Person presents the "Healthy Communities" award to Councilor Dennis L. Irish at the 35th Annual Meeting on Sept. 10.
Posted Tuesday, September 11, 2007 by Amanda Garrison


Amanda Garrison photo

Family Health Center to hold 35th annual meeting
Posted Friday, September 7, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

WORCESTER - The Family Health Center of Worcester Inc. will honor Worcester Councilor-At-Large, Dennis L. Irish and Joseph H. Oyer, MD at their 35th Annual Meeting on Monday, September 10, 2007.

Councilor Irish will be receiving the 2007 "Healthy Communities" award to recognize his contributions to Family Health Center, which includes chairing the "Art in the City" event to raise essential operating funds for the organization. Dr. Oyer will be presented the "Dr. Felix G. Cataldo Lifetime Achievement" Award in recognition of his commitment to caring for all in need. This award was dedicated to an important community member, Dr. Felix G. Cataldo, during Family Health Center's Annual Meeting in 2005, which took place shortly before his passing in 2005. Cataldo family members will be in attendance as the award in his honor is presented to Dr. Oyer.

The Annual Meeting will feature a brief business meeting, which will include reports from Family Health Center committees and the election of a new slate of officers for the coming year. The following Class C Board members will be reelected to a three-year term: Rev. Louis G. Bond, Thomas Manning, Janice MorganJones and Joseph O. Scardino. The following board members willl be recommended for office in the coming year: Janelle Salmon-Person as Chairperson, Honee A. Hess as Vice-Chairperson, Thomas Manning as Treasurer, Nancy Simpkins as Clerk and Marjorie Purves as At-Large Member. Family Health Center will also say goodbye to some departing board members: Tracy Brubaker, Reina Estrada and Leon Nigrosh.

The Annual Meeting and Reception takes place at 6:30 in the lobby of Family Health Center on 26 Queen Street in Worcester. Tours of the Health Center and light refreshments will be available. The event is free and open to the public.


35 years of Family Health
Posted Monday, August 13, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Saturday, August 11, 2007
By Lisa D. Welsh
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
lwelsh@telegram.com
(c) Telegram & Gazette
ONLINE

WORCESTER - The Family Health Center of Worcester Inc. yesterday celebrated 35 years of service from which some of the more prestigious health care providers in the area could learn.

In a confusing era of health care reform, primary care physicians and physician hospital organizations, patients of the Queen Street center receive complete care at their one-stop neighborhood health center, including dental appointments, pharmacy service, emergency medicine and wellness visits.

"Our health system is very complex right now," said Frances Anthes, president and CEO of Family Health Center. "We are seeing 12 people a day who haven't had health care before. They have heard that they are eligible for health benefits for the first time in their lives."

The Family Health Center staff of 300 meets the needs of 25,000 patients annually. Because 40 percent of its patients need some kind of translation services, there are translators of seven languages - Albanian, Russian, Portuguese, English, Twi, Spanish and Vietnamese - and advisors who discuss MassHealth insurance.

"We help them figure it all out," Mrs. Anthes said. "People don't just need information, but actual assistance is what is needed. They need someone to sit down with them, and not feel degraded."

Despite the chilly, rainy conditions yesterday, many from the neighborhood showed their gratitude and attended the health center's annual Community Health Fair and 35th birthday party. Balloons, cakes, prizes, face painting, a moon bounce, refreshments and 20 vendors, including the Regional Environmental Council and the YWCA, contributed to the festivities.

One neighbor, Guillermina Campos, a native of Mexico, said she first visited the Family Health Center nine years ago because she has no means of transportation and the health center is within walking distance.

Now, she wouldn't think of going anywhere else.

"I come here for routine visits, dental services, and when I am sick" said Mrs. Campos, through her advocate, Joyce Diaz. "I walk to all my appointments. My children, Ariana and Eric, and my husband, Gerardo, do, too."

One time, Mrs. Campos said she had belly pain, and the Family Health Center questioned whether it was appendicitis, so they sent her to one of the largest hospitals in the city and she was admitted for observation. She said she was sent home and her appendix ruptured, so she returned to the hospital for emergency surgery.

"I was scared and I sadi to my husband, 'When the pain gets too bad, please take me home,'" Mrs. Campos said. "It was such a difficult case that Dr. Nancy Morden had to visit me in the hospital. She had to take time off from her schedule at the Family Health Center to visit me."

In 1972, Model Cities, a federal urban aid program to remedy health access issues among low-income residents, asked 25 families in Worcester what they wanted most. Their answer was a family doctor, one who would treat grandma's diabetes as well as children's colds. That year, the Family Health Center was established in a storefront on Main Street to provide that kind of family care.

In 1974, the University of Massachusetts Medical School began a family practice residency program in conjunction with the Family Health Center. Since then, 150 doctors have graduated from its program, including Lucy Candib, who joined the Family Health Center when she completed her coursework in 1976.

"Dr. Candib is a sought-after expert on family practice medicine," Ms. Anthes said. "She would be here today, but she's speaking at a conference on family medicine in Singapore."


Community Health Fair at Family Health Center of Worcester
Posted Monday, August 13, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Published in the August 17-30 issue of InCityTimes
By Daphna Nachminovitch
(c) InCity Times

Family Health Center of Worcester, Inc. (FHCW), the Worcester downtown health center, held a neighborhood health fair on Friday, August 10th. Hundreds of Worcester residents attended the health-focused festivities despite the rain and chill.

At their annual "Neighborhood Health Fair," Family Health Center showcased their many programs and services to local residents, while also providing space for neighborhing agencies to attend and provide health-related educational information and entertainment. The event takes place every year during National Health Center Week in August, which recognized the work of Community, Migrant, Homeless and Public Housing Health Centers.

Family Health Center President and CEO, Frances M. Anthes said, "The strongest message of National Health Center Week this year was to remind our patients that we are their health care home. We are the one-stop source for all of the health care needs of our patients as well as their families - from primary care to dental to mental health to prenatal care to finding an insurance provider."

This year's health fair feature a "birthday party" theme in celebration of the health center's 35th anniversary, complete with healthy snacks, birthday cakes, party toys and a moonwalk for kids. State Representative Vincent Pedone addressed the crowd, emphasizing the importance of health community and Family Health Center services. Other special guests included the Webster 5 Cents Savings Bank clown and Twister, the Worcester Tornadoes mascot. Attendees enjoyed winning prizes from the "basket raffle" donated by Family Health Center staff and a finale prize of a bicycle donated by Bicycle Alley on Main Street in Worcester.

Event organizer Amanda R. Garrison noted, "in keeping with our mission to create access to high quality health care for all in our community, we were excited to add health screenings to our health fair for the first time ever."

The event was sponsored by Neighborhood Health Plan, Senior Whole Health, BMC HealthNet Plan and Network Health.

PHOTO: A young patient wins a basket full of toys at Family Health Center's Neighborhood Health Fair.
Posted Monday, August 13, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

School clinic first in state to treat all
Posted Monday, July 2, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Saturday, June 30, 2007
By Jacqueline Reis
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
jreis@telegram.com
(c) Telegram & Gazette
ONLINE

WORCESTER - The state's first school health center that will serve community residents of all ages will be open in August, but the people who made it happen gathered yesterday for a ribbon cutting.

The Helen A. Bowditch Health Center at Elm Park Community School will serve students during the day and community members from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. A separate exterior door leads into the small clinic, which can be completely closed off from the rest of the school. The facility will be operated by Family Health Center of Worcester, which also oversees school health centers at Claremont and Woodland academies (formerly the Accelerated Learning Laboratory), Dr. Arthur F. Sullivan Middle School, the Goddard School of Science and Technology University Park Campus School, and South High Community School.

Elm Park Principal Ruthann R. Melancon said the clinic has been a dream of hers for eight years and one which the community needs: "We have students, we have families who have been looking forward to this," she said.

Family Health Center's school health centers are open to all regardless of ability to pay. Family Health Center will bill insurance companies, help people connect with assistance, and, if patients are not eligible for assistance, bill them on a sliding scale, said President and CEO Frances M. Anthes.

Ninety percent of Elm Park's students are from low-income families, according to the state department of education, and a survey done while the clinic was being planned found that more than half the school's parents would use the clinic for their entire family.

"We have to educate the whole child, and we have to work with the families," said Superintendent James A. Caradonio, who noted that the clinic's opening is good news at a time whent he school district, fresh off a tough budget process, badly needs it.

School money was not used for the center. It is the product of collaboration between Family Health Center, the Hoche-Scofield Foundation, the Fairlawn Foundation of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, Becker College, the Bowditch Family, the East Highland Area Neighborhood Association, Fallon Community Health Plan, The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center, Worcester Common Ground, the city and the schools.

Sally Bowditch, one of Helen Bowditch's five children, said her mother would be honored. "She would love what it is we're bringing to the community," Ms. Bowditch said. Her mother died in 2004.

School Committee member Joseph C. O'Brien, one of the people who hatched the idea for the center, said it should serve as a model for the 84 school health centers in the state that could also serve the community at large. "In a sense, you could have 84 more health centers running," he said. He noted that the center, with its extended hours, will be more convenient for working families than doctors' offices, which often are open only during the day.

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, who helped create the center while he was Worcester major and chairman of the School Committee, said community schools such as Elm Park "epitomize what we want to create in our schools today." The city's 10 community schools stay open extended hours for programs for youths and adults.

"When this building is open, it changes the whole neighborhood," said Mary S. Keefe, director of the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center.


PHOTO: Sally Bowditch, Worcester Mayor Konstantina Lukes, Janelle Salmon-Person of FHC's Board of Directors, Superintendent James Caradonio of Worcester Public Schools, Mass. Lt. Governor Tim Murray, and Becker College's Ken Zirkle cut the ribbon of the new Helen A. Bowditch Health Center at the Elm Park Community School.
Posted Monday, July 2, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Amanda Garrison photo

PHOTO: The Bowditch Family stands next to a picture of mother and grandmother, Helen A. Bowditch at the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Helen A. Bowditch Health Center at the Elm Park Community School.
Posted Monday, July 2, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Amanda Garrison photo


School health center to serve students and residents
Posted Monday, July 2, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Friday, June 29, 2007
Posted by Elizabeth Cooney
White Coat Notes (News from the Boston-area medical community)
(c) Boston Globe 2007 Globe Newspaper Company
ONLINE

The state's first school-based health center to also serve neighborhood residents will open its doors in August.

The Helen A. Bowditch Health Center in the Elm Park Community School in Worcester will be operated by Family Health Center of Worcester. Children will be seen during school hours; after school hours, the center will be open to the neighborhood.

Elm Park Community School enrolls students from one of the poorest, most densely populated neighborhoods in Worcester whose residents have a high risk for asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A Family Health survey of families found that more than one-third relied on emergency rooms for medical care or had no regular health care provider. More than half said their entire family woudl seek health care at the school.


This program works, so gut it?
Posted Friday, June 22, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

June 21, 2007
GLOBE EDITORIAL
(c) Boston Globe 2007 Globe Newspaper Company
ONLINE

HEALTH OFFICIALS agree that the best and least costly way to treat diabetes is to manage it vigorously - to avoid trouble in the future by helping patients with monitoring, diet, exercise, and counseling now. When this occurs in combination with home visits by community health workers, the formula can prevent the kidney failure, blindness, and other severe consequences of untreated diabetes that leave patients disabled and generate hefty hospital bills. So why are legislators and the Patrick administration likely to slah a $2.6 million program for community health centers that provides these services to low-income patients?

It is a question that deserves better answers than have been provided so far. Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, secretary of health and human services, refers to the difficult choices required by the overall budget crunch. The administration's budget included just $400,000 for the CenterCare program and folded it into a broader account for community health centers. The House budget cuts CenterCare to $557,000 and the Senate provides $1 million in a consolidated health center account.

Both Bigby and state Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, chairman of the Ways and Means, hold out the hope that some of CenterCare's 5,000 patients will no longer need its services for chronic conditions including hypertension, depression, asthma, and cardiovascular disease after they become included in the state's new system of insurance coverage for all. But it requires a considerable leap of faith that all insurers in the state's new system will quickly find an efficient way to do what CenterCare is already doing.

Frances Anthes, president of the Family Health Center of Worcester, said the program at her center provides activities in English and Spanish and funds passes for patients to exercise at the local YMCA and YWCA. With this kind of program, she said, community health centers can take a comprehensive approach to health care and provide it at a lower cost. She doubts that many private insurers in the state plan could match these services right away. "I could be wrong," she said.

More likely she is right. Zoila Torres Feldman, president of the Great Brook Valley Health Center in Worcester, said the loss of CenterCare money would be devastating for her center. As for programs by private insurers to replicate the services, including interpreters, that CenterCare now funds, she said, "This is not going to turn around in the first year."

The state's health reform law is a bold experiment in providing health insurance for all. But it should follow the medical profession's rule of "First, do no harm." By underfunding the health centers and counting too optimistically on what insurers will provide, the state runs the risk of doing harm to the Commonwealth's vulnerable patients.



PHOTO: Spectators view artwork while the sun sets at Family Health Center's 2007 Art in the City event.
Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Jason McMahan photo

PHOTO: Artwork by Nancy Madore and Jim Collins shown at Family Health Center's 2007 Art in the City event.
Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Jason McMahan photo

PHOTO: EspressoJazz performs at Family Health Center's 2007 Art in the City event (paintings by Terri Priest and William Grassette shown).
Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Jason McMahan photo


Benefit art auction tomorrow
Posted Tuesday, May 23, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

REGIONAL DIGEST
(c) Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER - The works of local artists will be auctioned off the highest bidder tomorrow to raise money for the Family Health Center of Worcester.

The Art in the City auction will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the health center, 26 Queen Street.

Former Police Chief Ed Gardella and Telegram & Gazette columnist Dianne Williamson will be the celebrity auctioneers.

Arists have donated their artwork to be exhibited and sold during a silent auction segment. There also will be other merchandise on the block during a live auction segment, including Red Sox tickets, music tickets, dinners at Worcester dining spots, a Worcester Tornadoes package and season passes to several College of the Holy Cross athletic events.

Tickets are $35 and are available at the door. For more information, visit http://www.fhcw.org/aicindex.html.


FHC’s 9th Annual Art in the City
Posted Thursday, March 29, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Family Health Center prepares to host their much anticipated Art in the City event for 2007. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 23rd, and will exhibit the works of prominent local artists. The live and silent auction segments will sell artwork as well as other sought-after merchandise. Last year’s participants went home with original works of art, red sox tickets, concert passes, dinner and vacation packages, and much more. In celebration of Family Health Center's 35th anniversary, the 2007 Art in the City Committee is anticipating an event "bigger and better" than ever. There is also planning in the works for an exciting new location with a view of the city that will remind people that Worcester is a work of art in itself. Please check back often for more news and information regarding one of the most exciting and spectacular art exhibits this city has ever seen. For more information about Family Health Center’s annual Art in the City gala, please visit the 2006 link on the sidebar to view last year’s event.

To donate artwork, auction items, funds, or to become a corporate sponsor, please contact Amanda Garrison at 508-860-7995 or by email at Amanda.GarrisonFHCW@umassmed.edu.


Access to 'health care home' other half of reform equation
Posted Friday, April 27, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

April 26, 2007
By Frances M. Anthes and Zoila Torres Feldman
EDITORIAL
(c) Telegram & Gazette

This week, Great Brook Valley Health Center and Family Health Center of Worcester and other organizations across the United States will take part in the national Cover the Uninsured Week. Thousands of events and activities will be held across the country to raise awareness of the millions of Americans living without health insurance, many of whom have had little or no contact with a doctor's office their entire adult lives. But that reality is beginning to change for many of Massachusett's uninsured residents - estimated at 372,000 last summer - as the state works to implement its historic health care law. One year after the law's passage, 110,000 previously uninsured Massachusetts' residents now have health coverage - a remarkable achievement by any measure.

However, there is more to this emerging success story. As the state's 52 community health centers continue to enroll residents into Massachusetts' new low-cost health plans, they are offering the newly insured something equally critical: a health care home - a place where they can access a team of caregivers, including specialists, who come to know them and their health care needs.

Establishing a health care home is the first step in accessing effective, comprehensive health care. According to a recent study on the importance of health care access by the National Association of Community Health Centers and the Robert Graham Center, people who receive routine medical care are better able to prevent sickness, manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes and asthma and avert emergency room visits and hospital stays than are people without a regular source of primary care - a health care home.

In 1965, the nation's first community health center opened its doors in Boston. Until that time, health services for the low and moderate-income people in inner city areas and isolated rural communities where nowhere to be found. Today the community health center network represents the largest unified primary health care program in the United States. In Massachusetts, 185 practice sites serve more than 700,000 Massachusetts residents yearly.

Community health centers like Family Health Center of Worcester and Great Brook Valley Health Center excel at providing comprehensive primary and preventative care and chronic disease management in accessible, lower-cost community settings. Staffed by caregivers who speak the languages and understand the cultures of their communities, health center effectiveness is reflected in improved health outcomes for patients, including a significant reduction in infant mortality and low-birth-weight babies, and an increase in patient self management of chronic diseases such as diabetes. At both Family Health Center and Great Brook Valley Health Center, a culturally compentent, multidisciplinary approach to prenatal care has resulted in fewer low birth weight babies. In 2005, Great Brook and Family Health each had a low birth weight baby rate of 3.7 percent compared to 8.3 percent for Worcester as a whole.

This success is a reflection of the quality health care centers provide. Health center patients receive their care from board-certified physicians trained at some of the country's best medical schools. And, like Massachusetts hospitals, our health centers undergo rigorous on-site accredidation visits and regularly meet national quality and performance standards.

Such quality, comprehensive care has an added bonus for all Massachusetts residents: Effective health care generates savings for the state's entire health care system. By keeping patients healthier and treating patients who would otherwise seek care through costly hospital emergency room visits or end up in hospital beds because of delayed treatment, overall savings are passed on to the state's Medicaid program and other insurers.

As organizations across the United States mark Cover the Uninsured Week, many eyes will turn to Massachusetts and its unprecedented effort to make health care affordable and accessible for virtually all of its residents. The role of community health centers will be critical to the success of that endeavor. Providing health insurance coverage is half the equation, the other half is encouraging individuals to access care that will help them live healthier lives.

Massachusetts health centers work to mirror the communities they serve - with staff that speak the languages and understand the cultures of their patients. This may be their greatest strength, allowing for the creation of a welcome, comfortable and comforting space for quality, comprehensive patient care - a health care home.


Family Health Center's Marie Arakelian and Joyce Diaz receive 2007 Girl Scouts' Women of Distinction Award
Posted Thursday, April 12, 2007 by Amanda Garrison
ONLINE

PHOTO: Joyce Diaz and Marie Arakelian at the Women of Distinction Event.
Posted Thursday, April 12, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

School dental clinic running
Posted Monday, April 2, 2007 by Amanda Garrison

Sunday, April 1, 2007
By John Dignam
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
jdignam@telegram.com
(c) Telegram & Gazette

WEBSTER - The school oral health program here has provided children with screenings, cleanings, X-rays and sealants the past three years, but hasn't been able to fix the main problem: their cavities.

Until now.

The Judith Ruskin Oral Health Clinic was dedicated Friday at Webster Middle School in honor of the deceased school principal who sought help for the "oral health crisis" affecting her pupils.

It is the first school-based dental clinic in Central Massachusetts and one of only a few in the state, according to Janice B. Yost, president of the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts.

"This is a huge and significant event for the Webster area," Ms. Yost said in an interview last week. "I think it's going to make a significant difference to the oral health of children in the Webster schools.

"It's wonderful that the schools have recognized the importance of oral health to children's ability to succeed in school and have been supportive of taking the dentists to the children in the schools," she added. "That's where the children are."

The health foundation gave the school oral health program here a start as part of the $86,800 five-year grant in 2002. Ms. Yost, who has described tooth decay as the most common chronic condition of childhood, said half the foundation's grants have been made to "improve oral health."

The United Way of Webster and Dudley made the permanent clinic a reality when it funded a $28,477 grant to the Family Health Center of Worcester for equipment.

"We can do the preventative work, but if we're not filling cavities, we're ultimately not fixing the problem that Judy came to me to fix," said Janet Scheffler, United Way executive director.

Dr. Susan Fiorillo, FHC dental program director, said the center began sending letters last week to students referred for treatment and that restorative work will begin as soon as parents respond and appointments can be scheduled.

Dr. Maura Sanders, one fo the FHC dentists who has worked in the oral health program here, said it has been extremely frustrating for those involved to identify problems with the children's teeth, but then not be able to correct them.

She said many of the children have their permanent teeth, and many have cavities. "Some of the teeth are just shells. It's terrible to see a 10-year-old with a huge cavity," he said.

The problem has been that while many students qualify for MassHealth insurance program that would pay for treatment, they haven't been able to get the Family Health Center in Worcester, which provides the treatment.

"Transportation is a huge issue," Mrs. Scheffler said.

Dr. Fiorillo said 70 percent of the Webster children screened were referred for treatment and that 50 percent of those screened had advanced caries, indicating they were not seen regularly by a dentist and had no "dental home."

"Now they have a dental home," she said of the clinic.

The oral health program began six years ago when the late Mrs. Ruskin, who was principal of Park Avenue Elementary School, approached Mrs. Scheffler about children's dental problems.

"Judy Ruskin said she had an oral health crisis in her school," Mrs. Scheffler said.

"She said, 'I have kids with cavities, kids with abscesses, kids with headaches, kids with poor nutrition because it hurts to eat a carrot, an apple. Kids can't pay attention in class because they have pain in their mouth," Mrs. Scheffler remembered Mrs. Ruskin telling her.

Mrs. Scheffler, with Terri Stone and Rosalie Pavlis of the Webster Community for Success coalition, then wrote a grant request for a dental program at the school, which the foundation funded through the Southern Worcester County Oral Health Coalition.

Mrs. Ruskin died of cancer in September 2002, a little more than a month before the grant was announced.

The Family Health Center began screening children on the stage in the school cafeteria in May 2004. Sixty children participated the first year. There were 245 participants this year.

Nancy Abysalh, nurse at th