As city studies viability of west Frederick health center, advocates say it's long overdue

Jun. 30—Dora Duncan's phone line is often busy.

As a bilingual community health worker at the Asian American Center of Frederick's office in the Hillcrest neighborhood, she hears from people every day who ask her how to enroll in health insurance or afford to take their child to the dentist.

Most families who call Duncan live on or around the Golden Mile. Many don't have an easy way to get to the downtown Frederick health center run by the city's Housing and Human Services Department.

But the department is planning to establish a health center on U.S. 40 — something advocates and city officials say is sorely needed.

Like the department's existing center at the Community Action Agency on South Market Street, the one on the Golden Mile would provide medical care to adults and kids who are uninsured and people of low to moderate income.

Duncan said she is excited about the prospect of accessible primary care and behavioral health services in the area.

Last year, at the Hillcrest Community Center, she helped the Asian American Center enroll 59 families into Kaiser Permanente's Community Health Access Program, which covers people who otherwise don't have access.

But 200 families signed up for the program. Due to new enrollment limits, most are still without health insurance, Duncan said.

She worries about limited opportunities that families have for affordable medical care on the Golden Mile, an area with one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the city.

What's currently there, she said over and over, is "not enough."

'Big dreams'

The Housing and Human Services Department is in the "exploratory stages" of establishing a west side health center, said Ramenta Cottrell, the department's director.

Last summer, the city's aldermen voted to spend $79,950 to hire a Greer, South Carolina, firm to study the feasibility of the proposed center.

The firm is considering where the center should be and making sure it wouldn't duplicate existing services. The firm is also assessing whether it would be financially viable, Cottrell said.

"Ultimately, we have big dreams," she said. "We want to make sure that we can provide health care to everyone. But we need to be able to sustain the health center, as well."

The department hopes to complete its feasibility study next year, Cottrell said.

Housing and Human Services wants to replicate its existing services on the west side, Cottrell said. Besides medical care and behavioral health care, a Golden Mile location would offer housing counseling, weatherization and energy assistance.

As part of the study, the department will offer services in a temporary location on U.S. 40, but the move-in date or location aren't decided.

The Golden Mile health center would be the city's third. Besides the center at the Community Action Agency, the Housing and Human Services Department has one at Hillcrest Elementary School, which serves children at six nearby elementary schools — including Hillcrest — and their younger siblings.

Many families the city serves at its health center downtown traveled from the west side of Frederick to get there, Cottrell said.

"That tells us there's a need," she said.

Plugging the hole in the wall

The name "Golden Mile" dates back to the booming commercial growth of the mid- to late-1900s.

Elizabeth Chung, executive director of the Asian American Center, described the area's history in a document outlining its need for more support.

Leading up to the 1990s, the corridor — which used to be farmland — saw "extraordinary" growth in housing development with little planning, she wrote.

The influx in apartment complexes and townhomes created a swell of rental housing and easy access to low-wage jobs in businesses along the corridor. The Golden Mile was an attractive home for a growing immigrant population, according to Chung.

But today, many community needs, including accessible health care, remain unmet, Chung said.

Many residents in the area don't have a primary care doctor, said María Herrera, executive director of the Spanish Speaking Community of Maryland. They rarely have annual check-ups and miss out on life-saving preventative measures, such as mammograms and diabetes testing.

Dr. Julio Menocal, who runs a family practice on Key Parkway, is one of the few primary care doctors operating close to U.S. 40.

He started his practice to boost the vaccination rate of young children, including kids of undocumented immigrants. He also wanted to serve people who were underinsured or without insurance. His practice accepts Medicaid and offers "affordable self-pay options" for people without insurance, according to its website.

Menocal opened his practice 16 years ago. He said he's excited about plans for a west side health center — especially with behavioral health services.

Addiction services are also needed to "plug the hole in the wall" in the area, Menocal said. Currently, none are available without insurance.

Still, he's hopeful. Recently, he said, it seems as if "there has been an awakening that this side of the world exists."

The awakening

Ever since Malcolm Furgol started working at United Way of Frederick County about eight years ago, he can remember people talking about the need for a west side health center and library.

Since the pandemic hit, Furgol has noticed an increase in urgency.

"The pandemic has really made it clear that it's expensive, but we can't afford to ignore it," said Furgol, the executive director of the Frederick County Health Care Coalition.

Today, county plans for a west side library are moving forward. Soon, the Frederick County Health Department will open its first permanent location on U.S. 40.

Bringing a health center and other Housing and Human Services resources to the Golden Mile has been a complicated, multi-year process, Frederick Alderman Ben MacShane said.

But he also said it seems like the potential project has picked up steam since the pandemic hit.

COVID-19 made many inequities worse, he said.

He remembers the pandemic's early days, with long lines at food distribution sites, including many on the west side.

"We knew at that moment that some of those residents were there because of hardship specific to COVID-19," he said. But, "for a lot of the people that were there, we also knew, honestly, they would have been there if that food distribution had been available the year earlier.

"They were struggling to support their families before COVID arrived."

Follow Angela Roberts on Twitter: @24_angier