Governor Patrick Visits Bowdoin Street on Dorchester Walkabout
By: Ediss Gandelman
*Featured in this photo - Adela Margules, Executive Director, Bowdoin Street Health Center, welcomes Governor Deval Patrick to the health center
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Acknowledging Deval Patrick as the first Governor to ever visit the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood, Adela Margules, Executive Director, Bowdoin Street Health Center, expressed appreciation for the Governor's support of Massachusetts' historic health care reform initiative and community health centers in general.
Margules reported that the number of uninsured patients cared for at Bowdoin Street Health Center has dropped from 14 to 5 percent, and touted health centers as the most cost effective settings to provide primary care. Margules spoke of the Center's vision for the future that includes building a new wellness center and additional exam rooms to enhance programming, accommodate more medical visits and expand the residency training program.
The Governor invited staff and community members to work with his administration to find ways to innovate. Fresh ideas “will come from the grassroots up, not the statehouse down...We need to work together, differently...we're in this together, ” he said to rousing applause.
