With many former Dorchester residents now living in their new homes in Randolph and other South Shore communities, Codman Square Health Center (CSHC) is planning to follow them by opening a full-service facility in Randolph that will pave the way for conversations about changes at the center’s Dorchester hub.

“That’s a trend we noticed, and our patients have told us that they have moved away and still come back to Codman,” said Codman’s new CEO, Dr. Guy Fish. “They are coming in for their visit and want to change their address and, commonly, it’s now in Randolph.”

Fish discussed the plans in an appearance before the Codman Square Neighborhood Council last Wednesday. He also spoke with The Reporter in an interview afterwards.

Since taking the CEO position last August, Fish said he has discovered that many patients who now live south of the city routinely come back to Codman Square for health care, as there are not any options in communities like Randolph. To respond to that changing health care dynamic, he said, Codman began by rolling out a satellite health center for students at Randolph High School earlier this year.

“We’ve done it in phases, and we do have footprint in Randolph High School with mostly behavioral health services for the students, and that’s gone super,” he said. “We’re delighted with our partnership at the high school…We are looking forward to, and anticipating, the opening of a more robust set of services with full health services there at the school.”

He said they will start construction on the expansion at Randolph High in January with an eye to an opening in August or September.
That facility will have two zones. The first will continue to serve students with full health services and will have an entrance from the high school. The second will welcome a new group.

“That second zone will serve parents with children from other public schools – the middle schools and elementary schools – who need health services,” he said.

There will be four exam rooms, two counseling rooms, and clinical services like blood drawing areas.

But the full clinic at the school is just an “interim” step for their plans in Randolph, said Fish.

“There is a developing consensus at the Codman Square Board to explore the establishment of a full-fledged community health center in Randolph serving the general public and not just the school community,” he said. “The location of that is to be determined, the timeline for that is to be determined. It’s really something we have a desire to do but right now we are in the early workings of where, when, and how.”

He said the school health center has brought a “wonderful” collaboration with the Town of Randolph and other stakeholders there, and they hope to “leverage that into this full community health center site” in the town.”

Right now, that effort is the priority for CSHC, but there are conversations some want to have about the headquarters in Dorchester’s Codman Square. Once Randolph is “off the runway and cruising in the air,” they want to turn their attention to serving patients with more resources in Dorchester.

Fish said that right now he is welcoming comments from Dorchester patients – good or bad – and said he needs to have an honest assessment from the public on how they are doing. He said one thing the CSHC would like to advance on is doing more to connect people to services and resources.

He told the audience at the meeting that he would hold up the center’s care to any private practice. However, he said, more can be done with helping patients get healthier by solving transportation, food, and housing problems.

“While that isn’t the primary type of services the health center delivers, we are looking for organizations to partner with,” he said. “Other community-based organizations, that have that as a primary mission and then work in partnership with them for these services and combine that with the 80 percent we do that makes up the medical and health services.”

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the humble beginnings of the CSHC, when on Dec. 10, 1974, a community civic association called on health leaders to site a community health center in the vacant Great Hall.

It was the spark generated by those conversations that eventually made the health center a reality in the Great Hall, and its expansion of the campus to its building on Washington Street.

See DotNews.com for more on Codman’s 50th anniversary.