Oneonta Community Health Center

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The Oneonta Community Health Center is open Tuesday evenings from 5:30 - 8:00 pm.
Location: Fox Hospital, 4th and Main Street, Oneonta, NY.
Free Primary Healthcare to low income, uninsured adults.

Appointments are necessary to see a medical provider.
Call 607.433.0300 for an appointment. Your call will be returned.

Please bring proof of household income to first appointment.
Click here for Eligibility Details.
Click here for services provided.

The Need for a Free Health Center

Our society is experiencing a health-care crisis. Nationally more than 46 million people have no health insurance. This number increases at a rate of approximately one million per year. An initial assessment revealed that about 16 percent of the population in Otsego and Delaware counties has no health insurance. This affects our whole community. According to the Rural Assistance Center, a rural health and human services information resource center, the uninsured have higher out-of-pocket costs for care; poorer health outcomes than their insured counterparts; and a greater likelihood that easily treatable ailments will go untreated and become serious medical problems. These people are not necessarily unemployed; they are the working poor restaurant staff, small business owners, day laborers, artists, and housecleaners, to name a few. Ultimately the costs are borne by everyone, they are passed along in terms of lost work hours, higher health insurance costs, and greater community health risks.

No community truly can be healthy if a significant portion of the population is excluded from basic medical services. In the absence of a national universal health care policy, concerned citizens need to find other ways to provide the medically under-served with the health care services they lack. Creating a free health center isn't simply the ethical course of action, it's the practical course of action.

Vision

Treating the uninsured with compassion and respect.

Our Mission

Our Mission is to enrich our community through serving the health and wellness needs of the uninsured people in Otsego and Delaware counties by providing free, professional, primary health care.

About Us

The Oneonta Community Health Center is a community based organization designed to provide free health services to the uninsured and other designated patient populations in Oneonta and the surrounding communities of Otsego and Delaware Counties.

The Oneonta Community Health Center has moved to Fox Hospital in Oneonta.
Enter the front door of the hospital on 4th Street. Turn left and walk down the waiting room to the health center sign on the left. The hours remain the same.

Officers of the Board of Directors

Kay Stuligross:  President
Gerri Haan: Vice President
Wendy Harrington: Secretary
Daniel Maskin: Treasurer
Benjamin Friedell, M.D.: Medical Director

Full Board of Directors: click here

Media

Daily Star story by Denise Richardson July 30, 2008

Press releases are posted here and updated regularly

Press releases

Volunteers in Medicine

Information about the group Volunteers in Medicine here.

An informative history of Volunteers in Medicine also appears here.

Grace Smith with Volunteers in Medicine founder Dr. Jack McConnell on his visit to Oneonta: photo here.

Privacy Pledge

The Board and Staff of the Oneonta Community Health Center are dedicated to maintaining the privacy of the patients served by the Health Center. Medical care is provided at the highest levels of confidentiality. Medical information is not released nor sought without the expressed consent of the patient.

Needed Supplies

If you would like to donate office, cleaning or first aid supplies to the Health Center please see our donations list or click here.

Your support

Community support is essential to make our work possible. Please help with your gift of financial support, time or materials by phoning (607) 433-0300 or clicking here.

Clinic Celebrates First Anniversary

July 29, 2009 the Friends of the Oneonta Community Health Clinic rejoiced at the conclusion of one year providing primary health care to over 300 individuals in over 500 patient visits. We recognized our many supporters and dedicated volunteers in celebrations in September. We have come a long way from a task force at the Unitarian-Universalist Society to a community organization with volunteers and board members from many churches and local communities. We invite you to join us.