Southcoast Health Supports New Bedford Community Health’s Primary Care Expansion Campaign with Significant Donation

Leaders from Southcoast Health and New Bedford Community Health (NBCH) gathered today to celebrate the community health system’s donation of $112,320 to NBCH’s capital campaign to expand their primary care services to the former Rite Aid pharmacy building on Purchase Street.

The 13,000-square-foot space will significantly increase the health center’s primary care capacity, employing two new Primary Care Providers and 30 treatment rooms where patients can receive comprehensive care from preventative heath vaccinations and screenings to ongoing care of diabetes, hypertension, HIV/AIDS, asthma, and chronic pain.

“Primary care is the cornerstone of a healthy community and this donation – the largest contribution we have received to date – will help us achieve the greatest primary care capacity expansion in our history,” said Cheryl Bartlett, CEO of New Bedford Community Health. “We thank Southcoast Health for continuing to support our mission of caring for everyone who relies on us for these essential services.”

This donation represents the longstanding relationship between Southcoast Health and the NBCH and their shared commitment to providing expert care and service to the Greater New Bedford community. Annually, NBCH cares for more than 23,000 primary care patients and this expansion will allow for 3,000 additional patient visits.

“Here in our region and across the country, there is an urgent need to expand access to primary care. Southcoast Health continues to invest in our own primary care program and providers as we seek to increase capacity for patients in our region, and we are honored to partner with and support New Bedford Community Health’s own expansion efforts,” said David O. McCready, President and Chief Executive Officer for Southcoast Health. “I look forward to our continued collaboration as we work together toward our shared mission to improve the health and wellness of the communities we collectively serve.”

The funds for New Bedford Community Health were allocated through the Massachusetts Demonstration of Need program. This initiative began in 1972 “to encourage competition and the development of innovative health delivery methods and population health strategies within the health care delivery system to ensure that resources will be made reasonably and equitably available to every person within the Commonwealth at the lowest reasonable aggregate cost advancing the Commonwealth’s goals for cost containment, improved public health outcomes, and delivery system transformation.”