The New Bern Redevelopment Commission is moving forward with plans to bring a new community health center to the city’s Greater Five Points area.
During their April 13 meeting, the commission voted to meet with community health and wellness experts to develop a sustainable plan for the project.
According to Redevelopment Commission member Tharesa Lee, while the details of the project are still being worked out, the Community Health Center in Havelock is seen as one possible template.
“That’s similar to what we need,” Lee said. “You don’t need a full-blown health department but someplace where people can get their blood pressure and sugar and cholesterol checked and where we can provide information about and referrals to other providers. You don’t need 10 examining rooms.”
“You might not do anything else but if you come in and pick up the information then you’ve started on your way to a better quality of life,” she added.
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Lee said the community health center will be located at 908 Bloomfield Street on property owned by the Redevelopment Commission. The two-story house located on the property will either be renovated and upfitted or torn down and replaced, she said.
If the current building is used, it will need extensive renovation. According to a Redevelopment Commission report, on Sept. 10, 2021, Beth Walker from The Walker Group Architecture Inc. accompanied Jeff Ruggieri, at the time the director of Development Services for the City of New Bern, to visually inspect the property.
According to their property assessment, the brick building needs substantial repairs, including a new roof, windows and exterior doors as well as updated HVAC and flooring and electrical and plumbing upgrades. Resurfacing of the parking lot and a ramp for handicapped accessibility are also recommended.
Lee said an initial estimate by The Walker Group placed a price tag of approximately $250,000 on the needed repairs.
The commission members are also consulting with Craven County Health Department Director Scott Harrelson to determine the cost to upfit the building for use as a medical facility, Lee noted. She said the Redevelopment Commission has also had conversations with city officials in Kinston and with Goshen Medical staff to get ideas for the final design of the community health center.
“We’re looking at all options for the building,” she said. “Would it be better to tear it down and build a brand new one?”
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Whatever the final decision, Lee said funding for the project would need to come from a number of sources, including grants, local government and private funding.
“You’re going to need partnerships for this, absolutely,” she commented.
Though plans for the new health center have been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee said she hopes to see “significant progress” on the project by the end of the year.
“That includes continuing conversations with community members and local government and talking to the experts,” she said. “A fool is a person who goes alone by themselves.”
Access is key
Lee said the new health center will address a number of needs in the Five Points community.
According to a survey taken as part of the commission’s Greater Five Points Transformation Plan effort, more than one-third of New Bern’s public housing residents report using the CarolinaEast Medical Center emergency room, most often when they are sick or in need of medical advice, rather than more cost-effective alternatives. In addition, a disproportionately high number of public housing residents are disabled or struggling with a chronic health issue like asthma, diabetes and hypertension compared to North Carolina residents generally, the report found.
“You don’t want to recreate the wheel but what you want to have is access to medical wellness services. If it’s easier for you to get to you’re more likely to go,” Lee said. ”If you have enough places in the community for people to get services, sooner or later they’re going to go, sooner or later they’re going to have a better quality of life.”
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Lee said lack of transportation is a major concern for many community members.
“A lot of people have cars but it’s about more than that. If you don’t have money for gas and repairs, just having a vehicle doesn’t help. So it’s a lot of different components.”
Lee said she sees projects like the community health center and the recently-opened Duffyfield Resource Hub as akin to the tentacles of an octopus reaching into the Greater Five Points community.
“You have all the tentacles, like the Duffyfield Hub, that’s a tentacle, then the Craven Terrace food pantry, that’s a tentacle, and all that connects. That’s how a community should work,” she commented.
Lee said she has little patience for those who question the need for a new medical service provider.
“Some people say ‘Why can’t they just go to the health department.’ Well, that may be easy for you or me, but for a lot of people that’s not an option,” she noted. “I say ‘Why you’re screaming and hollering over foolishness people are still dying.’ What matters is that mother with the child, the residents, the citizens.”
