I think we helped

Today was the day the Board of Managers for the Travis County Healthcare District was to meet and approve purchase of the land near us for the new clinic, so it was the last time Charles & I had to stand against an angry mob of neighbors. Reviewing the speaker's list, the first two speakers from the community scared us initially: former city councilwoman Betty Dunkerly (who we voted for), and former mayor Bruce Todd. Having not read today's paper, we didn't know what was to come, but after Betty started encouraging approval of the site, relief washed over us. Vindication that some 'big guns' stood with us. We couldn't get supporters with us at any of the meetings before, but the arguments Betty used about access and the centrality to all the community were some of the same ones I used. Someone listened. Heads are surely exploding across the street, so the hard work is still ahead for the staff of TCHD in helping the neighbors realize that it's not 'those people' being served, but instead it's 'us'.

Healthcare District Board Approves Purchase of Land for New Community Health Center

Today, the Travis County Healthcare District Board of Managers unanimously approved the purchase of a 7.4-acre parcel of land at 1210 W. Braker Lane for $1,386,780 to serve as the home for a new community health center.

The North Central Community Health Center, scheduled to open to the public in 2010, will serve approximately 20,000 patients per year and offer a full range of health care services, including primary and specialty care, diagnostic services and more. The addition of this Health Center will expand needed services for eligible residents within Travis County.

The board also voted unanimously to direct staff to develop and implement, with input from the board, a process to engage the neighborhood in a constructive dialogue about how the site should be developed. Staff is to provide the board an evaluation of costs involved in the construction of the facility as the project planning continues. Finally, the board instructed staff to develop a process to engage the neighborhoods and related stakeholders in the area of the current Northeast Community Health Center to develop a thorough understanding of the health care needs of that neighborhood and develop a plan to address them appropriately.

As the process to acquire this land has been ongoing, much information has been made available to the public. Various documents, data, presentations and other information can be found online at the dedicated North Central Community Health Center Web site at www.traviscountyhd.org/northcentral. The District will maintain this site as the project progresses in order to stay in communication with all interested parties.
 

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