ABOUT US

Addressing the Increasing Need for Affordable Health Care

Lower-income adults pay a higher ratio of their income for care, and there is a greater likelihood that easily treatable ailments will go untreated and become serious medical problems. These people aren’t necessarily unemployed; they are restaurant staff, small business owners, day laborers, artists, and house cleaners, to name a few, often working multiple jobs. Ultimately, the costs are borne by everyone, passed along in terms of lost work hours, higher health insurance costs, and greater community health risks.

Our community cannot be healthy if a significant portion of the population is excluded from basic medical services. Concerned citizens need to find other ways to provide the medically underserved with the health care services they lack.

Creating a free health center was not simply the ethical course of action; it was the pragmatic course of action that the Oneonta Community Health Center undertook over eighteen years ago.
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Our History

In 2005, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta, New York (UUSO), as part of a long-range plan to improve the community, identified the need for a free health clinic for those struggling with the costs of medical care and insurance. Dr. Benjamin Friedell, a UUSO member, spearheaded the project, which began with extensive research and detailed planning by a committee. After about two years of preparation, they opened a free primary health care center: the Oneonta Community Health Center (OCHC).

The first meeting of the OCHC’s Founding Board was in 2007. Bylaws, mission, and vision statements for the non-profit organization were created. State and local health laws and requirements were studied. After consulting with three other free clinics (as well as Fox Hospital CEO John Remillard), it was decided not to become an Article 28 facility, which required the same standards as hospitals. Instead, they opted for individual providers to practice under their own licensure and malpractice insurance, with “Friends of Oneonta Community Health Center, Inc.” as the name of the 501(c)(3) providing the board of directors’ oversight of the facility’s operations, staff, and fundraising.

A public meeting was held at the UUSO to explain the project and seek financial and operational support from the community. With tremendous local support, it was decided to establish a community health center without publicly identifying it as an offshoot of the UUSO. To survive, the health center would need the volunteer and financial support of the greater Oneonta community, not just the UUSO.

Serendipitously, a local midwife who had a fully furnished health facility on the first floor of her house needed to relocate to another state. She offered the house to the OCHC for zero rent for the first year and only asked that the utilities be paid. The location on Academy Street was ideal, and the center opened on July 29, 2008, remaining there for several years until the house was sold.

During the search for a new location, Fox Hospital provided a suite space that was used for other purposes during the day. The OCHC moved into its current location on Main Street in 2012.

In 2013, the OCHC began offering dental services to its established patients through FoxCare Dental Associates. Subsequently, in 2022, a mental health program was added, also for the center’s established patients.

One of the ongoing challenges for the OCHC to continue providing free primary healthcare is to keep spreading the word about our services through marketing efforts and networking with other health and social service providers who can refer patients to our services. Increasing support from institutional and individual donors is also vital to continuing free health services.

The OCHC’s Board of Directors has recently been working on a strategic plan that includes marketing strategies and research to explore other health care services that could be incorporated into our mission to best serve the needs of the greater Oneonta area.

OCHC’s Medical Director

Dr. Benjamin N. Friedell has been a practicing family physician in the Oneonta area for 35 years. He had long recognized the need for a free medical clinic in the area, as there have always been people without health insurance who defer seeing a doctor due to lack of funds. He was instrumental in starting this health center in 2008 and has been very impressed and thankful for the financial and volunteer support from the community that has made it possible to fulfill the mission of the Center.