By Elizabeth Landry
Syracuse Community Health entered a new chapter this year, with Ofrona Reid, MD, MBA, MS taking the helm as Interim President and CEO this past January. Reid was previously the Chief Medical Officer at Oneida Health, having re-located to Oneida from the Bronx, where he grew up. His experiences in his youth have contributed to his sense of passion for leading Syracuse Community Health, a vital health care organization in Central New York that serves those who are uninsured, disadvantaged or who face other obstacles to receiving quality healthcare. In the city of Syracuse, the patient population facing challenges to having its healthcare needs met is large: the city’s 13202 zip code ranks as the poorest in the state and ranks 26th nationally.
“Growing up in the same type of community with similar struggles, barriers and exposures gave me a sense of what’s needed in the greater Syracuse community, as well as the desire to really make a change,” Reid said. “My ultimate passion and vision are to design and deliver a high-quality care model that focuses on providing health equity to patients who unfortunately are vulnerable and under-served in our community.”
Expanding Access to High-Quality Care
Along with his executive team, including Jessica Yoxall, Chief Operating Officer and John Milligan, Chief Financial Officer, Reid has laid plans for several initiatives aimed at increasing access to quality healthcare for the impoverished communities in Central New York. Included in these plans, SCH will be expanding the Quick Care center to increase walk-in access for patients. According to Reid, these walk-in services are critical to the goals of the organization.
“If we have a patient coming into Quick Care for foot pain, for example, we can screen them for other underlying conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes, and then tunnel them to a primary care provider for further care. This process allows us to identify and help close health care disparities in the community,” Reid explained.
Along with the expansion of the Quick Care offerings, SCH will also be adding more dental care for its patients, specifically at the East location. Yoxall explained how these additional dental services are aimed at resolving some of the health care disparities in the area related to location and lack of transportation.
“One of the things we look at when we determine need of new services is the social determinants of health for our patients, such as difficulty obtaining transportation to appointments,” explained Yoxall. “If we have a high volume of patients that live on the East side or perhaps the West side we consider what the specific services are that we can incorporate into those locations to help overcome these barriers. For instance, one of the things we’re working on right now is expanding our dental practice by incorporating access to our dental services at our East location. We’re currently working with the NYS Department of Health to put in three dental operatories for both a dentist and a dental hygienist, where we can offer full-service dental care including panoramic x-rays for our patients. This is just one of the many important ways that we continue to provide high-quality services and promote health equity right here in our community.”
Fostering Connections in the Community
Another strategy the team at SCH continues to explore to provide needed health services to impoverished CNY communities is forging deeper connections with other resources in the area. By identifying ways the health center can partner with other community-based organizations and agencies, the team at SCH is making large strides in advocating for patient needs, especially when patients themselves may not be aware of the resources available to them.
“One of the things Dr. Reid has
been a huge proponent of over the last two and a half years is connecting the needs of patients in the community with related services that are available. Onondaga County is a very resource-rich community in terms of services, but connecting patients with those services can often be challenging. To bridge this gap, we’ve been working with the
Onondaga County Health Department, outside agencies and other offices and sharing our story about what we’re doing for patients and what their needs are so we can better connect them with the care that they truly need,” said Yoxall.
SCH’s partnership and collaboration with other community-based organizations is taking shape in several different areas of health care. To help address food insecurity, SCH is working with the CNY Food Bank to distribute 200 boxes of fresh produce each month, available to anyone in the community. A collaboration with Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now, or FAHNN, as well as the Mary Nelson Program, will also help SCH alleviate the food desert in Central New York. Additionally, SCH will be partnering with Brady Market to offer a café space in the new building at 930 South Salina Street, offering fresh, healthy food options for patients and staff alike.
The team at SCH also has plans to partner with Catholic Charities, the Rescue Mission and Dr. David Lehmann from Upstate Hospital to help provide quality health care to the sheltered and unsheltered homeless population in Syracuse.
“Dr. Lehmann makes house calls to the homeless and he reached out to me to help identify additional ways the homeless population can receive continued health care,” stated Reid. “We’ve developed a pathway where Dr. Lehmann sees them and can refer them to our Quick Care locations where we can do an initial blood screening, tests and vaccines before they even see a primary care provider. The goal is to get them in to a primary care provider for follow up, which includes dental care and behavioral health. We’re going to work with Catholic Charities and the Rescue Mission to accomplish this goal and provide needed services right on the spot.”
Recruitment, Teamwork and Company Culture
According to Reid, one of the most important requirements for achieving the goals laid out in 2024 and beyond is a strong, supportive leadership team. “Without my staff and clinical teams, there’s no way I’d be able to go after my vision for the organization,” Reid said.
Certainly, this emphasis on teamwork also resonates with the executive leadership team at SCH. “What I enjoy most about working at Syracuse Community Health is our team,” said Yoxall. “Everyone at SCH has a shared vision to provide high-quality care to improve health outcomes for the patients we serve. The employees at SCH are constantly going above and beyond to meet the needs of our patients and organization.”
To continue building on the company culture and attracting top talent from the community, the team at SCH has needed to reach out to local educational institutions to get the word out about all that the health center has to offer. According to Yoxall, many in the community may not understand that students who rotate through SCH will be able to learn about podiatry, eye care, family medicine, pediatrics and more.
“Dr. Reid and I have been doing a lot of outreach in the community and connecting with local community colleges as well as Henninger High School to help explain the type of work that we do. Many people who live in the city of Syracuse may not have even heard of the health center, or they’ve heard of it and thought of it only as a free clinic. As a result, when they see a job posting from SCH they may not understand the scope and the extent of the services we provide here. We’ve been working and partnering with both the nursing program and medical assistant program at Onondaga Community College, sharing our story about everything we’ve accomplished, the services that we provide and the amazing experience we can provide to students,” stated Yoxall.
Continued Focus on Patients’ Needs First
With the team aligned on strategies for making material improvements in healthcare access in the community, the coming years will certainly be full of change and growth at SCH. Alongside new Quick Care locations, planned building expansions include a new clinic on the Onondaga Community College campus and enhancements to the original SCH location at 819 South Salina Street. These developments will further improve patient experience as demonstrated by the brand-new, state-of-the-art location at 930 South Salina Street that recently opened in December of 2023.
As exemplified by the beautiful new building, SCH continues to expand and offer more and more state-of-the-art services for patients in settings that are truly reflective of the high-quality care the organization offers. For Milligan, the new building demonstrates how patients’ needs will always be at the very center of the mission at SCH.
“We are so proud of our new 930 building,” Milligan said. “It was specifically designed to enhance the patient’s experience. The natural lighting, open spaces and easy transitions between care areas really improve the patient flow and experience.”
Whether at the new building, the Quick Care centers, in Syracuse elementary schools or in the streets of the community, the team at SCH will continue to focus on achieving healthcare equity for all.
“I really feel that if we’re going to close the healthcare gap, we can’t sit back and wait,” explained Reid. “We’re going to make the necessary moves to close the gap and bring high-quality healthcare to those who need it the most. We’re going to continue to advocate for our patients and help them overcome barriers to the excellent health care that they deserve.”
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