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Date: 12/23/2015
HOLYOKE – The Holyoke Health Center (HHC) was one of the Western Massachusetts health organizations to receive part of a $20 million pool of infrastructure and capacity building funding.
Although HHC wasn’t the only organization in the four western counties to receive funding, it was the only one to receive it from the Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders.
Sudders made the announcement at a press event on Dec. 18 that was part of a region-wide visit by Gov. Charlie Baker and his cabinet.
HHC received a $129,629 grant. Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Caring Health Center in Springfield, Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton and Community Health Center of Franklin County in Greenfield also received grants.
Jay Breines, the CEO of HHC, explained the funds would help develop a 24/7 access line with medical translation in 27 languages as well as developing a mobile app so patients can book them in real time.
Breines said this expansion of services offered by the HHC call center would help patients make and keep appointments.
“We have a lot of problems getting patients here,” he said. “We can’t help them if they don’t show up.”
He saw the grant as “an endorsement of our efforts” and added, “These are dollars that are important to us.”
He introduced Sudders as the person responsible for 60 percent of the state’s budget. Breines noted that Sudders, in her former capacity as the head of the Massachusetts Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children, used to rent space from HHC.
“She left as a tenant and came back as my boss,” he quipped.
Sudders called HHC an “economic engine” in the city and praised its program as “a full service health center.”
She added, “In many ways you lead the pack.”
At the same time Sudders was making her grant announcement, her cabinet colleagues Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Ronald Walker and Education Secretary James Peyser announced a $1.75 million grant that would fund the relocation of Holyoke Community College Center for Culinary and Hospitality Excellence to the Cubit Building at 181 Appleton St.