Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center Receives $5,000,000 Grant from the Affordable Care Act to Build a New Facility in Allston-Brighton
Kick-starts ambitious project to build a state-of-the-art health center facility
Boston, MA -
May 03, 2012
Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center (JMSCHC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $5,000,000 grant to help build a new facility in Allston-Brighton to help address the increased demand for quality, affordable health services in the community. These much-needed capital development funds have been authorized by the Affordable Care Act to improve capacity to provide primary and preventive health services to medically underserved populations. For JMSCHC, this grant provides the seed funding for an ambitious project to build a $19.1 million state-of-the-art community health center to consolidate several of the Health Center's current sites, and provide enough space for growth to meet long term community and patient needs.
Since 1974, JMSCHC has encouraged and supported patients in their efforts to take charge of their own health, advocated for patients to gain access to appropriate specialty and hospital services, and collaborated with other organizations to link patients to a broad array of community services. Originally established as a single-site health center within the Charlesview Apartments in Allston, JMSCHC now serves nearly 12,000 patients annually at five offices located throughout Allston-Brighton and Waltham. As the only full service, independent Federally Qualified Health Center serving these communities, JMSCHC is the medical home to insured and uninsured, employed and unemployed members of our community, including long- and short-term residents and recently arrived immigrants. Yet, in spite of our growth, we have been unable to keep up with the pace of the demand for medical, dental and behavioral health services..
Elizabeth Browne, Executive Director of the Health Center, says of this grant "We are elated that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selected our health center for funding. This $5 million is a down payment on making our dream of a new, larger facility a reality. There are thousands of new patients who need our services that we do not currently have the space to serve, and with this grant, we will now be able to build a new facility to serve everyone in the Allston-Brighton community who needs high quality, cost-effective primary care services."
This project is the culmination of a vision that will allow us to fulfill our mission to improve the health and well-being of the communities of Allston, Brighton, Waltham and surrounding areas by providing quality, comprehensive, coordinated care.
About Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center
Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of the communities of Allston, Brighton, Waltham and surrounding areas by providing quality, comprehensive, coordinated care.
|
Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center
Paola M. Ferrer, Esq.
Development Director
phone:
(617) 208-1518
|
|
