The history and evolutionary of Great Brook Valley

The Great Brook Valley was found in 1972 by women who were inquiring for better healthcare for their children. The women lived in public houses in Worcester, but still could rely on hospital emergency room for care. Despite the fact that the those women did not have an access to the regular and preventive care services for their children, they did not give up seeking for better access for the healthcare. The history of the Great Brook Valley started when the seven women founded a corporation to obtain a great space from the Housing Authority in Worcester. The women went as far as negotiating for the nurse practitioner who would visit the Valley to help them out. Luckily, the health center managed to grow meeting an increasing demand for the medical care from different residents of the neighborhood as well as from cities of the Worcester. When the times of needs were identified, the company hired many staff while obtaining funding to better serve the whole population within the nearby town, the Massachusetts. The newer facilities such as public housing complex located across the Great Brook Valley streets were later built to serve the patients from 100 communities in West Massachusetts (Gray, 1949).

The community responses were very positive and appreciated the women efforts in addressing the lack of access to healthcare for individuals and the families. A very interesting history for the Great Brook Valley was in 2004 when the company was asked to prepare itself an application to be issued to the federal Department of health Service so as to open a health center for the community in the center of Framingham. Luckily, the application was successful funded and the Framingham Community Health Center (FCHC) opened its doors to the street in Framingham the same year. This was a privilege to the Great Brook Valley and immediately the FCHC managed to start a storefront facility with only four rooms. In addition, within less than three years, the need for health services by the community outgrew the small space that was available making the FCHC to add two additional storefronts (Gray, 1949). In the year 2006, one site was opened for the medical services while the other different site was opened for dental in the year 2007.

How great brook valley evolved

There were major milestones that the health center passed through to get to its current level. In 1972 Kennedy CHC was founded in the housing project located in GVB. The dental department was launched in1978 to take care of dental problems of the people that the health center serves. The health center expanded in 1992 and a new facility was opened across the street at 19 Tacoma Street. In 1995, the first school based health center was launched to offer training to nurses and doctors who would eventually be incorporated into the health center to work there (Kennedy, 2012). In 1997, a pharmacy was built within the health center that made the health center the first to have a pharmacy on-site. A dental lab was also opened in 2001 which would be part of the previously set up dental department. This health center became the first to have an onsite dental lab. Great valley brook continued to expand into new areas and a second medical site was opened in 2006 in Framingham. In 2010, the health center was named after Edward M. Kennedy who was the late senator. During the same year there were renovations made to the new site that had been opened (Kennedy, 2012).

Local politics of great brook valley

There is no single institution that fails to be marred with local politics within the institution. Great brook valley also experiences the political interference. There are various local politics within the health center that affects procurement of equipment. The local stakeholders within the health center are the people who run the institution. Any disagreements between them adversely affect the health center. They can disagree on the purchase of equipment when it comes to the budgetary allocations. This means that the health center might lack vital equipment or upgrading of equipment. Local politics within the health center can lead to little or no allocation of resources to the institution. There are funds that are set aside by the government towards such organizations and if the local leaders are corrupt or embezzled, the funds then the health center will miss out. This will lead to poor service provision to local residents as some of the funds set aside running the health center is not availed to them. Local politics can also lead to loss of morale by the workers in the health center that eventually translate to poor services to the people.

References

Benard, J. (20099). The evolutionery of Great Brook Valley Worcester, Massachusetts. London: Samuel Associates.

Gray, J. C. (1949). The development of Great Brook Valley Worcester, Massachusetts. London: Samuel Glasser Associates.

Kennedy, E. (2012). Community Health Center. Community Health Center. Retrieved March 11, 2013, from www.kennedychc.org/about-us/history

Khazraji, M., & Khazraji, E. (1970). Social conditions and social needs in a public housing project in Worcester, Massachusetts: working report. New York: s.n.