With a wait list already in the thousands, a new healthcare facility in Springfield is opening.
Following three years of work, it was elbow room-only at a new healthcare center off Boston Road as community leaders joined Caring Health Center, Inc. staff for a ribbon-cutting.
The group crowded a waiting room at the new 14,000-square foot facility Monday as CHC marked the building’s completion. It will offer everything from adult and pediatric medical care to dentistry to behavioral health services.
“This facility stands as a testament to the voices that called for expanded medical services, particularly the Pine Point and Indian Orchard residents,” said CHC President and CEO, Tania Barber. “Their cry for help was championed by the Indian Orchard Neighborhood Council, whose passionate advocacy highlighted the critical needs of women, children, families in the community. Their efforts, alongside the resilience and determination of many have brought us to this transformative moment today.”
Barber tells WAMC Caring Health Center started pursuing the location at 1235 Boston Road in 2021, closing on it in early 2022.
Already, she says, there’s a wait list of about 2,000 people – a sign of how hard it’s become to get access to care or find a primary care provider for many in the region.
The full cost of the project was not released, though documents hosted by the Hampden Registry of Deeds show the property was sold for at least $2 million in January 2022.
Situated beside a PVTA bus stop, officials like Mayor Domenic Sarno emphasized the need for accessible facilities is only growing. He and others say the emergency room often ends up being the alternative for many.
“There was a major vacuum up here, in the Boston Road area, Pine Point and Indian Orchard, and Tania saw that,” the mayor said. “The waiting list to go to Caring Health Center is in the thousands now – in the thousands - and as Congressman Neal alluded to, many people are getting their primary care by going to the emergency room, and sometimes, by then, it's too late. They're not getting that preventative, proactive care.”
Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal of the 1st district says centers like the CHC’s are playing a growing role in providing care in communities.
He also touted the Affordable Care Act, as well as pledging to defend Medicare and Medicaid from cuts – the latter of which is reportedly being considered by House and Senate Republicans.
“We don't know when we're going to get sick - that's why we buy insurance,” Neal said, stating virtually all children and 97 percent of adults in Massachusetts have some form of insurance post-ACA and actions by the Commonwealth. “And I might say, to what we call the boomerang generation now, that constantly questions Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security - the reason that you're not living in your mother and father's attic is because of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. There can be no retreat on those issues, and we intend to resist any effort to cut Medicaid or Medicare - you can be assured of that.”
Opening in 1995, the Caring Health Center organization’s mission dates back to the 70s, when a community group formed a coalition dubbed the “Springfield South End Community Health Center Development Corporation,” aiming to create a health center to serve some of the city’s most vulnerable residents, according to the CHC website.
Over time, with funding and federal recognition, it became Springfield’s only federally qualified health center, according to the mayor’s office.
Barber says across its 30 years in existence, the CHC has seen some 600,000 patients, all while growing from a small team to about 300 employees.
It’s also grown to have multiple locations on Sumner Avenue, one on Main Street, and another at nearby 860 Boston Road – which Barber says will continue to offer reproductive health services as the new center opens.
