The story of Harbor Health Services spans five decades and can’t be fully told without mentioning the work done there by Mary Lou O’Connor, a Dorchester resident who has been involved with the organization since the very beginnings of the health center movement in Dorchester. 
To celebrate O’Connor’s lengthy commitment, a garden space outside the Harbor Health Elder Service Plan Day Center in Mattapan was dedicated in her honor last Tuesday (Oct. 22). 

“Mary Lou has been involved with Harbor Health since 1974,” said Ami Bowen, the center’s VP of marketing and community engagement. “She joined the board of directors at what was known as Neponset Health Center. Then she served as the Harbor Health acting board chair three times.”

Bowen added: “Mary Lou oversaw the merger of Neponset Health Center with Columbia Point Health Center and the formation of Harbor Health. She has been a part of the organization for quite a long time.”

O’Connor’s substantial impact has spread beyond her home neighborhood. She played a key role in expanding access to care in Southeastern Massachusetts, including establishing and expanding centers on the Cape, and the opening of two PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) centers. She has also supported the development of Harbor Health’s pharmacies, food pantries, and women, infants, and children (WIC) nutrition programs. 

Though O’Connor officially ended her board service in December 2023, she continues to pitch in as a volunteer. One way she does so is by sharing her love of gardening with participants in the PACE program in Mattapan. 

 “Mary Lou comes in and does a lot of work with participants around the topic of gardening and has created some really lovely plant beds in the Elder Service Program Garden we have,” Bowen told The Reporter. “She planted bulbs on her hands and knees. She is all about trees and the different plants there, and she shares that with the elder participants in our program.

“Over the summer we came up with this idea to dedicate this space to her as a way to thank her,” Bowen said. “She’s been so involved with the organization and at such a formative time. We really wanted to think of a special way to honor her in a way that was meaningful to her.”

At the event, Harbor Health CEO Chuck Jones joined other leaders, staff, participants, and community members to unveil a stone tablet as a salute to O’Connor. Said Bowen: “We are really happy that Mary Lou will continue to come [to the Garden.] She will be a presence and she already has ideas for different types of plants we can put in the garden space.”

O’Connor was moved at the ceremony and “made this wonderful analogy of how community health centers are like oak trees,” said Bowen. “They have this deep root in the community, and they spread out to help all different folks who live around the community.”