Community Health Centers
The medical center nurtures and builds on the community legacy of its founders by forging mutually beneficial partnerships with community-based organizations, and in particular, with our seven affiliated health centers: Bowdoin Street, Dimock, Fenway, Joseph M. Smith, Sidney Borum Jr., South Cove and Outer Cape. Each year, BIDMC provides millions of dollars of support to the health centers to maximize the scale and scope of community-based primary care, health education and social services. But financial sponsorship is just one piece of our partnership.
Working Side by Side with Community Health Centers
The centers help us understand the community perspective and together, we identify specific needs of their diverse populations. In turn, community providers are afforded unique clinical and educational opportunities through staff appointments at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School. By sharing resources and expertise, we are able to create effective, culturally responsive programs and initiatives to enhance the health and well-being of underserved communities.
Our work in the community advanced even further when the medical center formalized its relationship with Bowdoin Street in 1995 as licensed ambulatory facilities owned by the medical center. This extended BIDMC family provides primary/specialty care and family and youth support services to the diverse population of Dorchester, including the Cape Verdean, Vietnamese, African American, Caribbean and Latino communities.
