The Bronx is last in New York state when it comes to health outcomes, and no region of the borough has wider health disparities than the South Bronx. Hoping to bridge health gaps in the borough’s southern corridor, Community Healthcare Network (CHN) is set to expand services — which include no-cost dental, mental and physical health services — to a new 8,000-foot facility in September 2024.
The move from its 975 Westchester Ave. location to the vacant 1000 Westchester Ave. lot is just across the street in Longwood’s main thoroughfare Southern Boulevard. The proximity of the ground-up construction and relocation efforts, CHN’s president and CEO Bob Hayes told the Bronx Times, allows patients to receive care without disrupted services.
“It’s pretty well-established that health outcomes are 20 percent what happens in the exam room, and 80 percent everything else. Our patients in the South Bronx need more than just a good doctor,” said Hayes. “So we want to provide a good doctor. We also want to provide care management, nutrition and wellness counseling. Then also provide tools to meet social needs in the area like food insecurity and housing.”
NYC’s poorest neighborhoods, which have the highest proportion of Black and Hispanic residents, have mortality rates which are 30% higher than those in wealthier neighborhoods. In the South Bronx, the poorest urban congressional district in the country, residents grapple with high rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, asthma, HIV/AIDS and infant mortality.
CHN — which has two other Bronx facilities in the Tremont and Williamsbridge sections in their 14-facility NYC portfolio — signed a 35-year lease for its new Longwood location. The length of the lease, CHN says, allows South Bronx patients — many who lack convenient health care access — consistent care.
The center touts itself as a judgment-free health care organization that doesn’t turn away patients based on their identity,…
Read the full article here