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IN APRIL OF 2007, a group of con-cerned citizens and business leaders came together to address a need they felt was quickly undermining the growth and potential of Montgomery—the lack of access to primary healthcare in the River Region. This group, headed by Judge Wil-liam Gordon, chair of the River Region Healthcare Coordinating Council, a proj-ect of Envision 2020, included elected offcials from the River Region, commu-nity leaders, major healthcare providers and the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. The group planned a strat-egy for making lasting changes to the health system in Montgomery—and was faced with a daunting challenge:

Envision 2020, elected offcials and business leaders and the local hospitals led the way to fnding a solution for this healthcare crisis. Don Henderson, President and CEO of Jackson Hos-pital, had a long-standing relationship with community health centers. Ear-lier in his career, he had presided over a very successful community health center and knew that the partnership between community health centers and emergency departments was a proven model that widened patients’ access

to comprehensive primary care while redirecting nonurgent emergency de-partment patients to more appropriate, cost-effcient care through a community health center. The partners assessed the options and determined that Health Services, Inc. (HSI), Montgomery’s community health center, was the part-ner best positioned to expand access to care to these vulnerable populations.

A partnership between Jackson Hospital and HSI was recommended to expand access to primary care for people with limited or no insurance as well as provide a site of choice for people with Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance. “The timing could not have been bet-ter,” said Bernell Mapp, CEO for HSI. “We were already engaged in plans to build a new facility to accommodate the growing demand and create an appropri-ate setting for our services.”

About the same time, federal stimu-lus funds provided health centers a com-petitive opportunity to construct new facilities, and the Montgomery commu-nity responded boldly. Jackson Hospital provided the land; the city and county committed $1.5 million and $1 million respectively, and Envision 2020 provided leadership and consulting services.

“As a result,” Mapp said, “HSI received a federal grant award of $11.2 million to construct the new River Region Health Center (RRHC), which will make a real difference in improving access to primary care services for everyone.”

This new expanded facility will con-tinue to serve not only Montgomery County but the surrounding counties of Elmore and Autauga and will house:

“The ribbon-cutting event for RRHC is scheduled for December 1, and the new facility will likely be open for business the frst week of 2012,” Mapp said. The River Region Health Center proj-ect will improve continuity of care and create permanent medical homes for any-one seeking primary healthcare services. It will also serve as a viable after-hours option for people who would otherwise seek pri-mary care in the emergency department. At capacity, this center is designed to provide healthcare services to more than 25,000 patients annually.