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While the new year is well underway, I wanted to take one last opportunity to highlight the incredible work our Kennedy Community Health staff has done to ensure members of our communities live healthier lives.

Those of you who know me know I love numbers, particularly when they tell powerful stories.

2022 marked Kennedy Community Health’s 50th anniversary and I couldn’t be more grateful to those who made that milestone possible. When Kennedy Community Health was founded in 1972 as the Great Brook Valley Health Center, our seven Founding Mothers were determined to break the status quo and provide care to a population that had been too often overlooked by the area’s healthcare delivery system. 

Fifty years later, I am proud to say that Kennedy Community Health continues to provide care to all who walk through our doors, regardless of age, race, religious beliefs, immigration or coverage status. 

In 2022, we saw 31,120 patients, the largest number served in our history. That on its own is a soaring achievement. But then, when we dig deeper, we find that our teams provided care in 85 languages across our three medical facilities. Among these individuals were 280 refugees from countries across the world, brought to us through our Refugee Health Assessment Program, one of only ten in the Commonwealth. 

Kennedy Community Health increased its standing as a leader in LGBTQIA+ health care equality and now sees 163 patients by our transgender care team, providing these individuals with gender affirming hormone therapy and comprehensive health care and social services. This number has almost doubled since the team’s creation two years ago and we look forward to continuing to provide gender affirming care to all who need it.

As part of Kennedy Community Health’s comprehensive model of care, patients may have their prescriptions filled at our health centers and we processed 137,307 prescriptions over the last year.  We also distributed 2,708 glasses through our Optometry programs.

Our insurance navigation services and community health workers partner with patients and medical providers to advance our goal of excellent health outcomes for all, as we recognize that health is affected by a variety of outside factors. Our team of Navigators completed 2,370 insurance applications, 1,546 insurance renewals and provided 14,277 assists with health insurance needs.

These numbers should make us proud. Prouder still because behind them are happy, healthier patients who are even more dedicated to this, their community health center. 

We want to thank our patients and our community who understand the value of quality health care and we look forward to the future as we continue to help all people live healthier lives.

Yours in health,

Stephen J. Kerrigan, President and CEO

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I’m writing today to update you, our patients, supporters and dedicated staff about some recent and unnerving events that may appear to threaten community-based health care in Greater Worcester. We at Kennedy Community Health are acutely aware of how recent headlines and news reports have evoked a sense of uncertainty in community health, so we want to update you on our Health Center in a clear and concise manner and be available to answer any questions you, our most important audiences, have.

Kennedy Community Health is strong, structurally and financially, and is expanding access to health care in Central Massachusetts with two new sites in Worcester and Milford opening early 2023. Our growing team remains committed to putting the health and wellbeing of patients first and we will continue to provide exemplary care to all who come through our doors, whether they have been coming to our facilities for generations or are just starting today.

We understand that this is a challenging time for members of our community and want to reassure you that we have and are continuing to offer support to those who need it most. We have been in steady and constant contact with Family Health Center of Worcester before and through their recent financial challenges. We will continue to work with them to ensure they can stay a strong and vibrant organization providing community-based health care for years to come. While the leadership of Family Health continues to consider various options to secure their future, Kennedy Community Health will remain positioned to ensure the public health of this region remains strong and be ready to assist them further should they be open to our plan.

Community health centers have been a cornerstone of care since their creation in 1965 and are essential partners in our community, particularly for our most vulnerable populations. The pandemic has shown us more than any time in recent history the power of strong, local, accessible and affordable health care for anyone who needs it. We look out for the families we serve and work to address the social determinants of health that impact them so fundamentally.

Kennedy Community Health is grateful for our providers and staff, for their dedication to serving the members of our community. We look forward to continuing to ensure our patients live healthier lives as we continue moving our core mission forward for generations to come.

Thank you for your support,

Stephen J. Kerrigan, President and CEO

Cries for equality and justice, for rights and opportunities have been with us for far too long.  Five decades ago, in the 1970s, the Civil Rights Movement was dominating the headlines.  People on the streets demanded health care now.  Born from those demands, the community health center movement emerged.  Health centers not only provided access to needed care, but they were also a vehicle for economic growth and development in neighborhoods that needed it the most.

In Great Brook Valley, the largest public housing complex in Central MA, seven mothers came together with the same goal in mind: better access to high-quality, comprehensive and preventative care for their families.  At the time, residents faced tremendous barriers.  In some instances, it could take hours and many bus lines just to get to the emergency room.  Some patients took multiple buses with broken bones, bleeding wounds or worse.  A report from 1971 described such a situation.

One woman in her twenties brought her six-year-old daughter to a hospital with an injured arm, requesting an x-ray. The staff put a bandage on her and sent her home, but the pain persisted. At a second hospital, the child was diagnosed with a broken arm. The same mother’s eight-year-old received stitches in her leg that burst open once they reached home. Her one-and-a-half-year-old son was diagnosed with a bad asthma attack and given medication for it. A second opinion found the true problem, a collapsed lung.

On August 22, 1972, everything changed.  Fed up with the status quo, those seven brave mothers, our Founding Mothers, from Great Brook Valley came together to bring care to the housing complex.  The mothers enlisted the help of community leader, Charles Estus, and formed a Health Committee to demonstrate need in the neighborhood.  They negotiated for one nurse practitioner to provide care in one room in one apartment, thereby founding the Great Brook Valley Health Center.  And on this day in 1972, the Health Center was incorporated.

We know the story from there: one room became five, five became a whole building, and so on until today, 50 years later, Kennedy Community Health proudly serves over 29,000 individuals through 11 sites across Central Mass and MetroWest.  These sites, staffed by over 450 members of the communities we serve, provide access to high-quality, comprehensive and inclusive care to anyone who walks through our doors.

Standing on the shoulders of our seven founding mothers, we’re forging ahead with not one, but two expansions, in both Worcester and Milford.  The story does not end here. 

We continue to carry forth the mission and vision of those seven trailblazers each and every day.  We find new opportunities.  We dream bigger, we have a greater impact, and we bring more services to more people across the Commonwealth.  Every day, we help people live healthier lives but in the words of our namesake, Senator Kennedy, the work goes on.

Yours in health,

Stephen J. Kerrigan