Great Brook Valley
Health Center Wins National Health Service Corps Award of
Excellence
In the
second largest city in Massachusetts, Great Brook Valley
Health Center (GBVHC) serves a diverse mix of people from
many different cultures and backgrounds. Many residents
are from other countries and speak languages other than
English. Often they work in service industries without
any health insurance. Over the years, GBVHC has developed
dozens of programs and project partnerships to create access
to care, add services and improve patient care for these
low-income and uninsured residents of Worcester.
John
Hess, Vice President, Planning & Development, with GBVHC,
said the Health Center uses an evidence-based model to identify
and quantify access to care needs, and then it develops
corresponding programs and seeks grant money for the implementation
of these services.
For
instance, in 2002, GBVHC joined forces with the Massachusetts
League of Community Health Centers (MLCHC) in a program
called Worcester Community Access Program (CAP). It is
a federal program that encourages communities to work together
to overcome access problems for the uninsured.
“The
initial access to specialty services for the uninsured,
which accounts for 62 percent of our users, was almost zero.
The only way they got access was to go to the emergency
room and be admitted to the hospital because they couldn’t
pay,” Hess said. “In Worcester, the specialists are extremely
busy. Even the paying patients have a hard time getting
an appointment. We improved the access by providing specialty
services such as ophthalmology, dermatology, pulmonology
and urology at a location that is convenient to our users…our
Health Center. Now, our patients can come here for these
services.”
GBVHC
has been able to continue providing these services beyond
the CAP program because Massachusetts has an uncompensated
care pool. Hess explained, “We are able to bill for a lot
of the services we provide, and we have the mechanisms in
place to bill for the specialty services now provided in
our office. The specialists are contracted to be here on
a regular basis…some more frequently than others, depending
upon the demand. It was a true partnership that was successful
and has continued.”
The
health education and prevention programs GBVHC offers are
aimed at improving birth outcomes, chronic disease self
management, weight management/obesity prevention, and prevention
of substance abuse and HIV. A good example of this is GBVHC’s
role as the grantee for the Worcester Healthy Start Initiative.
Working in partnership with multiple community organizations,
this federally funded program targets hard-to-reach low-income,
language and culture minority, and uninsured women, particularly
African American and African born communities which have
the highest infant mortality rates.
“Since
we began the program in 1999, we’ve been able to target
neighborhoods by linking our data with census tract data.
We identify where the infant mortality is occurring in the
city. When you look at the city as a whole, the average
rate of infant mortality isn’t that bad, but when you look
at the minority population and look at the census tracts,
it is very high.”
Hess
continued, “We help women who have limited resources to
make their way through the system and access the services
— daycare, housing, medical — that are available. Some
of the women are in violent situations and maneuvering through
the court systems to get a restraining order for instance
can be very intimidating for a young pregnant woman. All
of these types of support are important so that the women
try to be as healthy and stress free as possible. It’s
a comprehensive look at the woman, her situation and her
needs to help her access the care she needs.”
In 2004,
GBVHC secured another four years of funding for the Healthy
Start Initiative.
For the
commitment it has shown to unite communities in need with
caring health professionals and to build better systems of
care, GBVHC has been awarded the NHSC Award of Excellence.
A long-time partner with the NHSC, it has shown excellence
throughout its departments and programs, and it has improved
its systems and patient outcomes. Hess expressed his appreciation,
“We have a lot of patients who rely on us, and it was nice
to get the recognition.”
Learn about other
NHSC success stories.
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