[June 23, 2011] Goodwin Communiy Health on the grow: New name, location, expanded service, and taking new patients Tweet SOMERSWORTH, Jun 23, 2011 (Foster's Daily Democrat - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Goodwin Community Health, located in its new building at 311 Route 108, is now accepting new patients for the first time since September 2010. The community healthcare center, formerly Avis Goodwin Community Health Center, has hired two additional physicians, as well as added an additional dental laboratory, allowing it to accept 3,500 new patients into its primary care network and 500 new patients into its dental network. The center is hoping its move into a new, larger and more updated building on Route 108, as well as its three-tiered care model, will bring in new patients. Goodwin's three-tiered care model, which offers primary, mental and dental care to all its patients, is a model practiced by only one other community healthcare center in New Hampshire. The model allows an individual receiving primary care, to also have access to a social worker and a psychiatric nurse practitioner for mental needs that can't wait to be treated while a patient may sit on a waiting list for a licensed psychiatrist. "We're able to care for the whole person," said Marketing and Communications Manager Lara Willard. Currently, Goodwin cares for 8,000 patients within all of its services, which includes prenatal care, as well as the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. Within the primary care department, patients are served within what Goodwin refers to as a "pod," which contains a staff of a primary care physician, a social worker, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and between one and two nurse practitioners, depending on the pod. Currently Goodwin employs 127 individuals, including 77 full-time employees. The center depends heavily on volunteers, who log approximately 6,900 hours yearly. Goodwin also transitioned into a paperless stage about three years ago, including its implementation of the electronic care record, which allows individuals within the primary care, mental health and dental regions of the facility to view a patient's record with a click of a button. The electronic care record also has added benefits, including the ability for a physician to view drug interactions in a tab on the care record. This transition affords for better quality care, according to Executive Director Janet Atkins. Along with providing a better space for patients, the new building also offers more room for the employees, including a board room, a dual conference room and cafeteria, and a balcony space which faces the back parking lot. Funding for the new facility came mainly with a grant from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. To see more of Foster's Daily Democrat or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fosters.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]