Neighborhood Health Center opened its seventh location at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday.
As a federally qualified health center, it provides care to all patients regardless of health insurance status. One in seven Americans uses health centers as their primary form of care.
“Over these 21 years, Neighborhood has also become my primary care provider, the place I came for podiatry and counseling," Karen Peffer, board member and patient, said. "I like to say that they take care of me from head to toe, and it's not just me. My husband and my kids are also patients here, and we, including our dogs, use the pharmacy. I came to Neighborhood for care, and we've stayed because of the quality of that care.”
Peffer started going to Neighborhood Health Center after searching for an OBGYN when she was pregnant with her first child. Her second pregnancy was high-risk, but Peffer credits the care she received through Neighborhood Health for both her and her baby's survival.
"The kindness, compassion, and care we received, I absolutely — figuratively and actually — believe saved our lives," Peffer said.
The new location is on Delaware Avenue after being renovated from a former urgent care clinic that had been vacant for a few years.
"We looked around over a year ago and said we are running out of places for our patients to get primary care, so we found that there was a vacant building in a neighborhood where many of our patients were coming from, and that's how we got here today to celebrate Neighborhood Health Center's seventh location," President and CEO Joanne Haefner said.
Federally qualified health centers offer services using sliding scale fees and take patients regardless of insurance status. This center will have 13 new exam rooms that will provide primary, dental, counseling and vision care.
