Whittier Street Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides primary care and support services to primarily low-income, racially and ethnically diverse populations mostly from the Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and the South End neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts.
History
Founded in 1933 as a well-baby clinic, Whittier Street Health Center initially focused on women's health. Since then, Whittier has expanded its services to more than 40 different programs, including eye care, dental services, physical therapy, and specialized clinics focused on chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and HIV.
Approximately 72% of Whittier patients live in the Boston neighborhoods of the South End, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Jamaica Plain, areas with high rates of poverty, growth of immigrant populations, and an overall poor state of health. Whittier patients are disproportionately affected by infant mortality, low birth rates, childhood asthma, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, behavioral and substance abuse problems, and chronic illnesses, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
To address these high rates of mortality and morbidity, in 2012, Whittier launched our Boston Health Equity Program (BHEP), a new model of primary care delivery that combines care coordination, community outreach and education, and wellness support to eliminate health disparities and their associated costs. This health management initiative is built around a concept of a whole person health care and holistic health delivered by a multi-disciplinary team responsible for a patient’s care throughout both culturally competent and compassionate.
In 2011, Whittier was among four organizations recognized by Mayor Thomas Menino and the City of Boston at the Second Annual Mayoral Prize for Innovations in Primary Care. The award was for Whittier's Building Vibrant Communities Program, a partnership with the Boston Housing Authority in which health coordinators connect public housing residents with medical care and community services.
In January 2012, Whittier Street Health Center opened a newly constructed, Silver LEED-certified, 78,900 square foot facility, its first permanent home located at 1290 Tremont St. The project cost $38 million and was partly funded through a $12 million Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant. The health center’s new building has the capacity to provide up to 220,000 visits annually, or about 70-80,000 patients. The process to secure funding and obtain the parcel, and design and build took a total of ten years. The building was erected in 14 months and $640,000 under budget.
In 2013, Whittier received a $9.5 million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to combat the chronic conditions prevalent in the communities served by the health center and to expand health care services. The grant enabled Whittier to provide services to patients in the Roxbury and North Dorchester neighborhoods who had been served by the Roxbury Comprehensive Community Health Center (RoxComp), which was put in receivership in April 2013. The grant was distributed in $1.9 million increments every year for five years for planned initiatives including community engagement forums, outreach and education, financial counseling, health insurance enrollment, and transportation and support services.
In 2016 WSHC opened a satellite pharmacy in North Dorchester. The following summer, recognizing that people who live in North Dorchester faced a two-hour commute on public transit to reach its main facility, WSHC opened Whittier@Quincy Commons, a satellite clinic on Blue Hill Avenue, staffed by two full-time doctors, who provide scheduled appointments as well as walk-in services.
Whittier launched a new Mobile Health Van to provide services to the homeless and community residents to address the high rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Roxbury and surrounding neighborhoods, especially in the cities “hotspots.”
Within a few weeks of launching the Mobile Health Van, the staff identified two people who tested positive for HIV. Whittier launched an aggressive campaign to help to eradicate HIV in the low communities of Boston. Whittier is focused on addressing the racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care, and the economic and social inequities impacting low income and minority residents.