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Polish Originally published in The Middletown Press
MIDDLETOWN >> When patient Terry Danaher checks into the Community Health Center on North Main Street, she simply types her name or swipes her insurance card in a lobby kiosk. There’s no long lines and dreary waiting area some people associate with nonprofit health clinics.
Danaher, who also serves on the board of directors, agrees with CHC President and CEO Mark Masselli that the center is a “peace and health building,” something that’s in fact inscribed on the building. To him, it foreshadows what health care will look like in the next few years: medical, dental and behavioral health all in one location. He cites the use of electronic records to track patients’ medical history and the center’s coordinated, team-base approach to patient care.
CHC recently received a financial boost that should make its future even brighter: $447,834 to expand its services and $995,000 for infrastructure improvements. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Middletown was one of 11 Connecticut communities that received a total $6.2 million in funding from the Affordable Care Act to bolster such services.
The state awards include $3.73 million to increase access to comprehensive services such as medical, dental, behavioral, pharmacy, and vision care to more than 12,000 new patients. The funds also include $2.5 million for infrastructure improvements, including facility renovation, expansion, or construction to increase patient and service capacity.
Masselli explained that grants come into Middletown, then are disbursed where they are most needed. For example, the $995,000 will help the New London center upgrade its medical equipment and add more dental facilities. Funds from the $447,000 will be spent in both Middletown and New Britain to provide dental services for the homeless and schoolchildren, especially in New Britain.
The emphasis is on preventative health care to head off worst-case outcomes and to reduce the increasing expense of patient visits to emergency rooms for primary care.
According to Masselli, roughly 7 percent of the $1.44 million is allocated for indirect administrative costs, which may include utilities and salaries.
Masselli was one of three area residents who founded the center in 1972. It later spawned 13 clinics in the state that care for 130,000 Connecticut residents; the centers provide primary care, medical, dental and behavioral health services for mostly underserved populations.
Though centers treat patients from all economic brackets, Masselli says a sliding scale is available to anyone who needs it.
Some patients require a discount on their payments; others with insurance do not. CHC subsidizes those unable to afford treatment.
“This is a world-class medical center,” Masselli stressed. “We have doctors who graduated from UConn, Brown, Dartmouth and Yale. No one is a volunteer; all are full-time staff. While we’re open to everyone; not everyone has insurance through the Affordable Care Act.”
Ninety percent of patients are at poverty level or below.
“The Affordable Care Act is working in Connecticut because of the amazing efforts of community health centers to expand access to primary care,”says U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has visited the Middletown health center. “The more people that have access to preventative care, the more money we save on crisis care.
“This funding will make sure that Connecticut continues to lead the nation in the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, says the awards will ensure Connecticut’s most vulnerable patients have greater access to such care.
Danaher, the mother of five children, said 30 years ago her family was “underinsured,” and they came down with strep throat.
Taking them to various doctors ate up her husband’s weekly paycheck. A neighbor suggested the Middletown CHC.
“They all went,” said Danaher, “and our family never looked back. Our kids are now grown but my husband and I are still patients. The care is great and we love our doctors.”