At tonight’s City Council meeting, Council President Sabina Matos (Ward 15) proposed and passed a resolution supporting Providence Community Health Centers. This resolution was co-sponsored by Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan (Ward 5), Senior Deputy Majority Leader Nicholas J. Narducci Jr. (Ward 4), Councilman John J. Igliozzi Esq. (Ward 7), Councilman Michael Correia (Ward 6), Councilwoman Helen Anthony (Ward 2), Councilwoman Kat Kerwin (Ward 12), Councilor Rachel Miller (Ward 13), Councilman John Goncalves (Ward 1), Councilwoman Nirva LaFortune (Ward 3), Councilman David Salvatore (Ward 14), Councilman James Taylor (Ward 8), and Councilwoman Carmen Castillo (Ward 9).
“During a time when public health is of great concern, we must be using our resources to support organizations like Providence Community Health Centers. Their work has given over 65,000 residents access to quality, affordable primary care services. As we have learned throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, more work must be done to expand healthcare access. Let us do our part to give Providence Community Health Centers the tools they need to continue their great work,” stated Council President Sabina Matos.
Providence Community Health Centers (PCHC) has operated as a non-profit organization in Providence since 1968. With nine locations across the City, PCHC provides services including family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, behavioral health, optometry, dental care, and urgent care. PCHC treats all patients regardless of their ability to pay and offers multi-lingual, culturally sensitive care. In January of 2021, PCHC broke ground on a new health center location at 31 Atwood Street in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence. The new location will be called PCHC Atwood and is due to open in early 2022.
“I am so excited for the new PCHC Atwood location. I commend Providence Community Health Centers for their work addressing racial and economic inequities in healthcare, affecting our most vulnerable neighborhoods. As PCHC does this work on the ground to reform systemic issues within public health, I ask my colleagues in government at the State House to support this undertaking,” added Council President Matos.
The new PCHC Atwood location will create space for 14,000 new patients in the Olneyville area. The Olneyville neighborhood is a diverse region of the City, with many minority groups, immigrants, non-English speakers, and other groups that are often underserved in the medical field. The area has been hard hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Additionally, this new location will create fifty new full-time, sustainable-paying jobs. Providence Community Health Centers is the largest primary health care provider in the City of Providence.