Vol. XIX, No. 4, Fall 2011
By Congressman Bill Keating
It turned out I was a patient as well as a participant in Mashpee the last day in September when I arrived for the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Community Health Center’s epochal expansion project.
I was supposed to be one of the speakers, but by the time I arrived after an earlier engagement I discovered I was losing my voice…fatal for any politician.
Thanks to the ministrations of the Health Center staff, however, I was able to carry on that assignment after having donned the traditional hard hat and stuck a shovel in the ceremonial mound of dirt.
YOU CAN HEAR ME NOW! Thanks to ministrations from clinic staff, Congressman Bill Keating is in fine voice as he addresses audience at ceremonial ground-breaking for the Community Health Center’s expansion project in Mashpee. That’s Clinic CEO Karen L. Gardner waiting her turn.
Though my remarks were brief, they were heartfelt as I expressed my appreciation for what the addition was going to mean for the greater Cape community.
From its start 13 years ago as a free clinic for uninsured Cape residents, to the present, with over 12,000 patients being treated each year, the Community Health Center of Cape Cod has become a vital part of our community.
And once the addition is completed, the center will be able to serve another 6,000 patients, bringing the total number served on the Cape to over 18,000.
In this new addition, they will receive dental services, optometry services, expanded primary care and mental health capacity, women’s health services, a low cost pharmacy, and the list goes on.
Perhaps most importantly though, the addition will allow the Center to help patients without insurance apply for MassHealth, Commonwealth Care or other health benefits.
This is truly a holistic approach to health care by the Community Health Center of Cape Cod.
They are able to achieve that goal only through the cooperation of government and the community.
Thanks to a $6 million grant from the Affordable Care Act, the Center was two-thirds of the way towards the funds needed for this addition. The other third is coming from generous private donations.
It’s worth noting that lately all we hear is the need for cuts in government spending. Too often we fail to recognize or acknowledge the really great things that government funding can do.
The late, great champion of community health centers, Senator Ted Kennedy, knew that a real investment in health centers like this one in Mashpee actually leads to greater efficiencies and savings in the healthcare marketplace.
When patients can see their dentist, primary care, and mental health clinician all under one roof, there is less chance of confusion, overlap of services and conflicting prescriptions.
When healthcare professionals can easily communicate, they reduce redundancies and the healthcare dollar goes further.
And, of course, if they have easy access to care when symptoms first appear—or even earlier through regular checkups—costly emergency room or hospital stays can be avoided. (And a politician can make his speech and be heard beyond the front row.)
This Mashpee model is a vision for the future of healthcare in this country.
It was Senator Kennedy’s vision and the great hope of the Affordable Care Act that patients will have better access to healthcare, more efficient treatment, and affordable services.
The Mashpee Community Health Center of Cape Cod is a living, breathing monument to that dream of service and commitment.