Funds support health centers

Thursday, January 21, 2010

To the editor:

Congresswoman Carol Shea- Porter has secured $1,725,000 in funding for New Hampshire’s community health centers as part of HR 3288, which recently passed the House. This money will be allocated to the Avis Goodwin Community Health Center in Dover, the Manchester Community Health Center and the Bi-State Primary Care Association. Rather than being a general grant, these monies will be used for specific purposes.

At the Avis Goodwin Center, $225,000 has been designated to consolidate four separate treatment locations into one central one that is 3,600 feet larger than the combination of the current facilities. At their current locations, doctors had been forced to use bathrooms and closets as offices because the facility had become so overcrowded.

After the consolidation, Avis Goodwin will be able to provide health care to an additional 3,000 patients and 1,500 additional dental patients. This change will save the Avis Goodwin Center $200,000 annually.

At the Manchester Community Health Center, $250,000 will be used to purchase equipment needed for its new facility.

Finally, at Bi-State Primary Care, $600,000 will be used to increase its ability to recruit doctors and dentists.

Community health centers have seen an increase in the average length of time to fill vacancies for primary care providers, with many positions taking 18 months or longer to fill.

New Hampshire’s 14 CHCs provide care to more than 106,000 needy people in New Hampshire (1 in 12), with 30 sites in nine of New Hampshire’s 10 counties. Congresswoman Shea-Porter noted in her newsletter, “Community Health Centers provide medical services to people who desperately need access to care. Local health care systems provide a place to which our most vulnerable citizens can turn if they fall ill. I am pleased to have been able to help them.”

MENDON MACDONALD, M.D. (RETIRED)

Laconia