L-R: Shahriar Khan, Director with the NYC Economic Development Corporation; E. Ronald Guy, Board Chair, the William F. Ryan Community Health Center; Congressman Charles Rangel; Brian McIndoe, President and CEO, William F. Ryan Community Health Network; Charles Shorter, Executive Director, Ryan/Frederick Douglass Community Health Center; and Noel Manyindo, MD, Assistant Commissioner for the Harlem Neighborhood Health Action Center, NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene.
L-R: NY State Senator Bill Perkins; Charles Shorter, Executive Director, Ryan/Frederick Douglass Community Health Center; Brian McIndoe, President and CEO, William F. Ryan Community Health Network, and E. Ronald Guy, Board Chair, the William F. Ryan Community Health Center
Ryan/Frederick Douglass Community Health Center Opens
“W
e remain committed to delivering worldclass medical care to our neighbors, regardless of their ability to pay,” declared Charles Shorter, on the occasion of the ribbon cutting for the opening of the Ryan/Frederick Douglass Community Health Center in Harlem. Shorter is executive director of the new center as well as the Ryan/Adair Community Health Center on 124th Street in Harlem. Located at 128th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in the heart of Harlem, center funded received funding as part of the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Community Health Center Expansion Program, and through the HIIP (Health Infrastructure Investment Program) from the federal Health and Human Services’ HRSA division. “This is a momentous occasion, not just for Ryan’s staff and leadership, but for the communities we have pledged to serve,” said President and CEO of the Ryan Network Brian McIndoe, MPA. “Our guiding principle has always been that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and the Ryan / Frederick Douglass Health Center will allow us to better carry out that mission.” The center offers high-quality primary healthcare and support services to medically underserved members of the Harlem community and beyond. Participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremony were longtime member of Congress Charles B. Rangel; Shahriar Khan, director of the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Community (NYCEDC) Health Center Expansion Program; Noel Manyindo, M.D., assistant commissioner for the Harlem Neighborhood Health Action 24 The Positive Community November 2016
Center, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; New York State Senator Bill Perkins; New York State Assembly Member Keith Wright; New York City Council Member Inez Dickens’and E. Ronald Guy, Board Chair for the William F. Ryan Community Health Center. “Every New Yorker deserves high-quality healthcare access in the neighborhood they call home,” said NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer. The new Ryan / Frederick Douglass Community Health Center will serve thousands of Harlem residents– regardless of their ability to pay – ensuring better health outcomes and better quality of life.” And New Yorkers are set to receive even more services from The William F. Ryan Community Health Network. Plans are afoot to expand its already comprehensive diabetes management services program, targeting more than 1,300 patients at highest risk from neighborhoods including the Lower East Side, Harlem, Midtown and elsewhere. Funding for this program expansion is being provided through a $425,000 grant from the Robin Hood Foundation. The Ryan / Frederick Douglass Health Center joins the Ryan / Adair Community Health Center as the Network’s two locations in Harlem. The other Ryan locations serve the Upper West Side (the Ryan Women and Children’s Center and the William F. Ryan Community Health Center); the Lower East Side (Ryan-NENA Community Health Center); and Midtown Manhattan (the Ryan Chelsea / Clinton Community Health Center). “Our continued growth is a testament to the value we provide to the communities we serve,” said Charles Shorter. —JNW
Photos: Bruce Moore
Affordable Health Care Expands in Harlem