Bowdoin Street Health Center Announces $1 Million Gift from the Yawkey Foundation

Gift will expand access to care in Dorchester, including opening of an on-site pharmacy at Bowdoin Street Health Center

BOSTON – Bowdoin Street Health Center, part of Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH), today announced a $1 million gift from the Yawkey Foundation to support expanded access to care in the community, including the opening of an on-site pharmacy at Bowdoin Street Health Center, which is scheduled next month. The Yawkey Foundation’s gift, the largest in the health center’s history, will help build on its decades-long commitment to delivering patient-centered care in Dorchester’s Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood.

“Bowdoin Street Health Center partners with local residents to support the unique health needs of the Bowdoin-Geneva community,” said Samantha Taylor, executive director of Bowdoin Street Health Center. “An on-site pharmacy, which we will be opening next month, will be an integral part of making sure our community has access to affordable medication and receives integrated clinical care. We greatly appreciate the Yawkey Foundation’s support in helping us bridge barriers to accessible pharmacy resources.”

“Access to high-quality health care, especially among the underserved, was an issue of great importance to Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey during their lifetimes,” said Maureen H. Bleday, chief executive officer and trustee of the Yawkey Foundation. “Bowdoin Street Health Center has been dedicated to enhancing the well-being of residents in the Bowdoin-Geneva community for 50 years, and the Yawkey Foundation is honored to partner with them to remove barriers by enabling patients to leave clinical visits with medications in hand, which will be a critical step toward improving positive health outcomes.”

According to the most recent publication of the Boston Public Health Commission’s Health of Boston report, compared to the rest of the City of Boston, residents of Bowdoin-Geneva are more likely to be hospitalized and die from diabetes, more likely to be hospitalized for heart disease and more likely to have hypertension and obesity. Children between the ages of three and five living in the neighborhood are also more likely to visit the emergency department for asthma.

Additional benefits provided by the on-site pharmacy at Bowdoin Street Health Center will include a Patient Assistance Program to expand enrollment and eligibility assistance with patient co-pay assistance programs; medications in “blister packs” for patients to more easily manage complex drug regimens; prescriptions and instructions in a patient’s own language; and coordinated pharmacy and medical records to improve care management and outcomes.

“We are grateful to the Yawkey Foundation for its generous gift honoring the Yawkeys’ legacy,” said Peter Healy, president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which includes Bowdoin Street Health Center. “This funding will help us to provide on-site access to affordable prescription medications for Bowdoin Street Health Center patients and serve as a resource to the Bowdoin-Geneva community, to which both the Yawkey Foundation and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have been deeply committed over many decades.”