Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III visited Dorchester’s Codman Square Health Center last Thursday as part of a two-day tour of community health centers across Massachusetts meant to highlight the programs and people that are vulnerable as the new Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress set about dismantling the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare.

The ACA, which became law in 2010, funneled dollars for community health centers around the country, including Codman Square Health Center, which expanded its building with help from Obama administration.

The ACA also expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans, which accounts for more than half of the patients at the health center.

When you start to pull those dollars out of the system, that means that all those services, in support of everything that you need to be successful, go away,” said Sandra Cotterell, CEO of the Center, which provides services from dentistry to pediatrics to mental health, and testing for HIV.

Kennedy walked around the building to say “thanks for what you do” as he met doctors and nurses and patients. One nurse, happy to see a political leader interested in their work, told Kennedy, “You gotta fight the fight, man.

Added Anthony Stankiewicz, the chief advancement officer at the health center: “The problem is that in our community, this happens to us all the time. We get a little bit of traction, a little bit of support, and then it always see]ms to get pulled out from under us, like a rug. “It’s very tiring for us, and it’s very tiring for our patients — they stop believing,” he said.

The Health Center serves a neighborhood that is 85 percent African American, or Afro-Caribbean, and 8 percent Hispanic. The staff are multi-lingual, speaking English, French, Haitian Creole, and Spanish. Language facility is a particular asset for mental health at the center, allowing patients to express themselves and understand their conditions in their native tongues.

“You’re taking the most sophisticated science and medicine, and you’re translating it through language, culture, and economic circumstance,” said Kennedy in praise of the center.

Dr. Ian Huntington, an internal medicine provider, said that five new staff members were hired at the center to work specifically on substance abuse, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

Kennedy spoke about the years as a prosecutor that inspired him to get involved with mental health reforms. He noted that early intervention was key, and that you could greatly cut down crime if substance abuse prevention was successful.

The Codman Square center is the only one of its kind in the country that also incorporates a school. The Codman Academy Charter Public School, housed in the same complex as the health center, has been running for 16 years. It currently instructs students from grades K through 12.

Some health center workers asked Kennedy, “What can we do?”

Kennedy, exasperated with the thought of what’s at risk in Dorchester — and across the country — called the potential repeal of the ACA “stunning and shortsighted. You have proven what works, now it’s up to your government to actually fund it,” he said.

President Trump signed an executive order to “ease the burden of Obamacare” in a first-step to halt the Affordable Care Act, just hours after his inauguration.