News

“Two of the region’s largest health care providers will require vaccines for employees as coronavirus cases — and hospitalizations — rise amid the spread of the delta variant. Lowell General Hospital’s parent company, Wellforce, notified its employees of the vaccine requirement on Aug. 10. Last Friday, the Lowell Community Health Center issued its own vaccine mandate.”

The CDC now recommends the COVID-19 vaccine for everyone aged 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, or might become pregnant in the future. Pregnant and recently pregnant people are more likely to get severely ill with COVID-19 compared with non-pregnant people, and data suggest that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy. 

Oral health is crucial to overall health. Through the newly created Smiles4Families Fund, Lowell Community Health Center is seeking to ensure that every Lowell CHC patient has access to the dental care they need, regardless of ability to pay. Why did we create the Smiles4Familes Fund? Because we believe everyone deserves a happy, healthy smile. Dental care is expensive. Insurance can help, but only so much. Smiles4Families will help make up the difference by paying for essential dental care our patients need to smile with confidence.

“We literally have patients tell us, ‘I feel human again,’” shares Dental Director Dr. Samantha Jordan, describing the life-changing impact of quality dental care.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren visited Lowell Community Health Center on June 29 to celebrate the work of the health center in our community, thank our staff for their frontline work on the COVID-19 pandemic, and to applaud the patient- and community-focused use of the $5.3 million in HRS) funding for COVID response and recovery, as well as the $800,000 for capital improvements to our first floor. Senator Warren echoed Lowell CHC CEO Susan West Levine’s passionate advocacy for long-term, stable funding for CHCs as a key component of public health. We are deeply grateful for Senator Warren’s support.