History

Pioneering Efforts: Improving Health Care for the Underserved

Before the community health center movement, accessible health services for low and moderate-income people were difficult to find. Where services did exist they were often characterized by long travel and waiting times, episodic and inefficient care and, in the worst instances, disrespect. Based on his observation that "the poor get sicker and the sick get poorer," Geiger, along with Gibson, helped to launch a revolution in health care delivery. Their belief -- that poverty-causing conditions must be addressed before the health of a community can be sustained -- formed the basis of the community health center model.

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VIDEO: 'Out in the Rural | A Health Center in Mississippi' - Video courtesy of Delta Health Center, Mound Bayou, Mississippi; Tufts Medical School;
H. Jack Geiger, MD

In the meantime, President Johnson's "War on Poverty," a broad-based social program to promote revitalization and economic development within urban and rural areas, was getting underway. The federal Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), which was charged with advancing Johnson's poverty initiative, embraced health centers as an integral part of the program and began development of new health centers in other parts of the country.

As a result of the success of the pilot projects, the federal government created a permanent structure, the Division of Community and Migrant Health within the Bureau of Primary Health Care for administration of the programs in the early 1970s. Senator Edward M. Kennedy -- often referred to as the “father of community health centers" -- was an early and avid supporter of health centers in Massachusetts and across the country. Congressman Thomas "Tip" Neill, Massachusetts House Speaker John McCormack and members of Boston Mayor Kevin White's Administration also were champions of the community health center program in the Commonwealth. By 1971, there were 150 health centers throughout the country; 17 of those centers were located in Massachusetts.