CENTRAL FALLS – The Oct. 8 groundbreaking of a 47,000-square-foot Neighborhood Health Station, at 1000 Broad St. in Central Falls, represents the culmination of three years of community planning, negotiating and finding financing, Blackstone Valley Community Health Care reported in a recent statement. BVCHC currently provides health care for approximately 40 percent of Central Falls’ population of 19,376 (according to data from the 2010 Census).
When the facility is completed and open for business in the spring of 2018, the BVCHC aims to enroll 10,000 new patients and provide health care for 90 percent of Central Falls’ population. Currently, the agency serves 4,560 patients at its Chestnut St. location and 5,000 walk-in care clients at its Notre Dame building (both of which will close when the new building opens), as well as 600 middle and high school students in their schools.
“Creating a single clinical enterprise that can serve the entire population of Central Falls is groundbreaking,’ Dr. Pablo Rodriguez said in the BVCHC statement. “I can’t think of another place in the nation where a community health center has been able to collaborate so effectively with a city government … we’re creating a culture of health in Central Falls – one that can actually measurably improve the public’s health.”
With 75 new staff members expected to be hired in the next few years – three times the current cohort of 25 – the BVCHC’s new facility will provide a wide array of services, including primary care, physical and occupational therapy, mental health, radiology and obstetrics/gynecologic services. In addition, dental and pharmacy services will be new services offered. The new facility’s expanded weekday and additional weekend hours for same-day sick visits are expected to lead to reduced emergency department use and hospital admissions and improved patient health, Jane Hayward, president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, said. “The money saved will allow reinvestment in the Central Falls community to continue to improve health outcomes for all residents,” she said in the statement.
Central Falls Mayor James A. Diossa, who played an integral role in getting the project off the ground, expects that the anticipated $8 million in annual revenue for the facility’s salaries, supplies, utilities and maintenance/upkeep will generate additional economic activity in distressed Central Falls.
The $15 million project is chiefly funded by $11.45 million of tax credits and tax exempt bonds, the agency reported. Additional funding includes $2 million from BVCHC, a $1 million grant from the federal Health Resources Service Administration Health Infrastructure Investment Program, a $300,000 grant from Delta Dental to underwrite dental services, $300,000 in diverse grants from the Rhode Island Foundation and a $250,000 grant for heating and air conditioning systems from The Champlin Foundations.
