History & Mission

In August 1971, under the leadership of a community advocacy agency called the Alliance for Latin American Progress, and other community sponsors, the Fair Haven Clinic opened in a local elementary school two evenings a week. With a small group of dedicated nurses, doctors, students and neighborhood volunteers, the Clinic was able to serve adults and children on a walk-in basis for minor ailments, immunizations and family planning services. During that first year, we provided 500 visits with an original budget of $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven.

 

During the 1970s, the Clinic expanded services from episodic care to more comprehensive primary health care. Patients began to consider Fair Haven their medical home and a place where they could come for help. We also acquired our first building in 1976, a handsome old Victorian house, which stands as an anchor on Grand Avenue , the main thoroughfare of our community. We tripled our hours from 16 to 50 per week in 1978 and initiated a clinic at the Bella Vista Elderly Housing Complex.

 

The 1980s was a time of major expansion and growth with the award of federal funding (330 Grant), assignees from the National Health Services Corps, our first full-time clinical staff and the opening of a satellite at Wilbur Cross High School . We changed our name from the Fair Haven Clinic to the Fair Haven Community Health Center to reflect the broader range of services we were providing. In 1988 we purchased a second, adjacent building to connect to our current facility. Through the 1990s and into the present, we have continued to expand and grow and now provide care to many 3-generational families in a comfortable, accessible and supportive environment. Highlights of the Center include the following:

 

• Provide care to over 13,000 patients a year in 64,000 visits

 

• Operate 5 school based health centers and a satellite clinic for the elderly patients

 

• Employ over 130 staff members with an annual operating budget of $8.8 million dollars

 

• Serve a population that is 70% Latino, 15% African American, 14% Caucasian and 1% Other. Forty-five percent of our patients have some form of government insurance (e.g. Medicaid, HUSKY), 8% have Medicare, 37% are uninsured, and 10% have private insurance. The Center participates in most major commercial insurance plans and HUSKY HMO plans.

The Center's community-based comprehensive care has made it a popular training site for several health disciplines. In addition to training the next generation of health care providers from the Yale Schools of Nursing and Medicine, we have also been involved in supporting training for young people in our neighborhood who are becoming clinical assistants or nurses. We are committed to this training with an eye to promoting compassion and excellence.

 

The Mission of the Fair Haven Community Health Center is:

 

• To provide comprehensive primary healthcare, delivered through innovative and alternative systems of health delivery, particularly to the residents of Fair Haven;

 

• To serve as the central focus for health and safety issues in Fair Haven and enlist local support in an effort to solve these challenges;

 

• To keep policy-making decision power within the Fair Haven community.