Community Health Center hopes to start medication delivery service, mobile health unit

Allison van der Velden, CEO of the Community Health Center of Franklin County, speaks at a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) meeting at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield on Thursday afternoon.

Allison van der Velden, CEO of the Community Health Center of Franklin County, speaks at a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) meeting at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield on Thursday afternoon. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI

Jason Molony, the region’s new age-friendly program director, speaks at a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) meeting at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield on Thursday afternoon.

Jason Molony, the region’s new age-friendly program director, speaks at a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) meeting at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield on Thursday afternoon. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI

Jen Audley, Community Health Improvement Plan project coordinator for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, speaks at a CHIP meeting at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield on Thursday afternoon.

Jen Audley, Community Health Improvement Plan project coordinator for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, speaks at a CHIP meeting at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield on Thursday afternoon. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 10-11-2024 3:42 PM

Modified: 10-11-2024 7:32 PM


GREENFIELD — The Community Health Center of Franklin County’s CEO used a meeting of people dedicated to community health improvement to explain how the nonprofit she oversees expects to expand its reach with a new location in Turners Falls, a medication delivery service and a mobile health unit.

Dr. Allison van der Velden, one of the speakers at a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) gathering hosted by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments on Thursday afternoon, said plans are taking shape to grow the health center — which currently has offices in Greenfield and Orange — by as much as a third within three years. The hope is to open the Turners Falls location at 8 Burnham St. in December.

“It’s a large facility,” van der Velden told the roughly 20 guests in the William B. Allen II Meeting Room. “We’re going to by having three to four providers in that location and there’s going to be a little bit of room to grow for us, over time.”

The center bought the property at 8 Burnham St., which was previously owned by Baystate Franklin Medical Center, for $825,000 in the summer of 2023. Van der Velden said the location will likely add 2,000 patients to the health center’s capacity in the first year and 4,000 after two to three years. She said there are also plans for a pharmacy offering delivery services to be located in the Health Center Plaza in Orange.

“It’s going to really improve coordination of care for patients,” she said. “The pharmacist is a key player in the health care team.”

Van der Velden also mentioned that a mobile health unit — a truck or van that would visit priority areas like farms and the county’s western portion — is in the planning phase. It would have two exam rooms, one primary care provider and an auxiliary staff. The unit would expand capacity by 1,000 patients.

Van der Velden explained community health centers are nonprofit, patient-governed organizations that provide comprehensive primary care to America’s medically underserved communities, serving all patients regardless of income or insurance status. According to van der Velden, health centers served a record 31.5 million patients in 2022. She reported that one in 11 Americans are health center patients — 19% are uninsured, 61% are publicly insured, 90% are low-income, 41% are rural residents, and 64% are members of racial and/or ethnic minority groups.

Currently, nine out of the center’s 12 board members are also patients. The center offers primary care, dental care, behavioral health care, and enabling services such as insurance enrollment support and transportation.

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“We just don’t put a lot into marketing, the way other health care institutions may,” van der Velden said.

Age- and Dementia-Friendly Communities

Earlier in Thursday’s meeting, Lynne Feldman, associate executive director of LifePath, spoke about Age- and Dementia-Friendly Communities and about the accomplishments so far in the 2024-2028 Action Plan.

“We would like to see an increase in intergenerational programming” by facilitating collaborations between senior centers and schools, she said.

Feldman also said LifePath is looking to increase its elder-abuse awareness training and to shift culture so more younger people use compassion when interacting with a person with dementia.

She also introduced Jason Molony, the region’s new age-friendly program director.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.