The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Rocking Horse celebrates National Health Center Week

Kasich: Education will lead to new jobs
New 21 min. ago
Broadband expanding to lure jobs to state
New 24 min. ago
Snow showers expected early Wednesday morning
11:04 p.m.
Smuggled phones a concern for jail officials
10:58 p.m.
Husted discusses ‘cause for freedom’
10:55 p.m.
> More headlines

By Kelly Mori, Staff Writer Updated 9:41 PM Thursday, August 12, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — At age 11, the Rocking Horse Community Health Center is a lot like the adolescents Dr. James Duffee treats on a daily basis.

“We’ve outgrown our clothes ... we have some pimples and we’re definitely moody,” Duffee, medical director, told attendees at the National Health Center Week celebration on Thursday, Aug. 12. On the other hand, it has matured beyond what even Duffee, its founder, had envisioned: a center that has grown from serving 1,700 children a year to serving more than 13,000 children and adults in four locations.

What started out as Duffee’s vision to provide health care to underprivileged children has “become the community’s vision” to provide health care, both physical and mental, to adults, children and families, he said.

About 200 members of that community, including local, state and federal officials, came out to celebrate the center’s first year of being a Federally Qualified Health Care Center and the 11 years since it started as a pediatric-only center on South Limestone Street.

The center is currently enclosing two trailers at the north end of its building to house its mental health services, said Board of Director J. Robert Baker. He said the center is hoping to qualify for federal funding for a more permanent expansion. U.S. Rep. Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek) confirmed that funding could be coming this way and vowed his support, as did Ohio Rep. Ross McGregor and Ohio Sen. Chris Widener, both of whom presented proclamations to the center.

Mayor Warren Copeland thanked Duffee and the leaders of the former Community Hospital and Mercy Medical Center for the risks they took more than a decade ago to create the center that brings affordable, quality and comprehensive care to residents in need.

While the center is now federally funded it is still dependent on community support, Copeland said. “The community needs to see this as its health center and work together... to continue the efforts that was so key in getting us to this day.”

Baker thanked former Congressman David Hobson for supporting the center from the beginning. Hobson turned the praise around, thanking the center staff for “what you do caring for the people... making their lives a lot better.”