(L-R: Pa. state senator Vincent Hughes, city councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, Mayor Michael Nutter, Spectrum Health CEO Phyllis Cater, state rep Vanessa Lowrey Brown, and state rep Dwight Evans. Credit: Michelle Durham)
Reporting Michelle Durham
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By Michelle Durham
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Construction is about to begin on a new $14-million health center in West Philadelphia.
Mayor Nutter, state senator Vincent Hughes, and state representatives Dwight Evans and Vanessa Lowrey Brown were among the regional officials attending today’s groundbreaking.
The health center at 52nd and Haverford Avenue is owned and operated by Spectrum Health Service. CEO Phyllis Cater says they’ve outgrown their current facility four blocks away, and this new center will allow them to broaden their scope of care and to serve more people.
“Our mission is to provide care to anyone who walks in, regardless of their financial status,” she said today. “It’s discounted care, so you pay what you can afford to pay.”
Cater says the new “green” building will also have a pharmacy and offer dental services too.
“I feel like I get more out of it than the patients do,” says Dr. Garreck Baskerville, a family practice physician, “because I feel so happy to give such great care to the patients.”
Seventy new jobs will be created, and construction of the facility is expected to be completed by July 2013.
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