2019 -- S 0946

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LC002679

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING THUNDERMIST HEALTH CENTER ON 50 YEARS OF PROVIDING

RHODE ISLANDERS WITH QUALITY SERVICE AND HEALTH CARE

     Introduced By: Senators Satchell, Murray, Gallo, Ruggerio, Metts, and Lombardi

     Date Introduced: June 05, 2019

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, Thundermist Health Center is a nonprofit corporation and Federally

Qualified Community Health Center, that currently serves three Rhode Island communities --

Woonsocket, West Warwick, and South County; and

     WHEREAS, In 1969, local physicians felt that the City of Woonsocket needed a family

planning center. They generously volunteered their time to provide care from an apartment in a

low-income housing development, and on May 16, 1974, were officially incorporated as a full-

fledged health center; and

     WHEREAS, In 2001, Thundermist merged with the Health Center of South County, and

in 2003, established a comprehensive health center and a school based health center in West

Warwick. In 2005, Thundermist renovated an old warehouse in Woonsocket into a flagship health

center that has subsequently been nationally recognized; and

     WHEREAS, In 2006, Thundermist transitioned to an electronic record system,

eClinicalWorks, and in 2011, opened the state's first health center site fully designed as a patient

centered medical home. In addition, it became the first Rhode Island community health center to

achieve patient centered medical home accreditation from NCQA in 2011, and is currently

NCQA accredited at the highest level in all of its eligible departments and is a FTCA Deemed

Facility; and

     WHEREAS, In 2013, nearly 40 percent of Thundermist's 42,000 patients were uninsured,

and many faced transportation challenges, substance abuse disorders, homelessness,

unemployment or underemployment, and many other issues. In order to meet their needs,

Thundermist provided $6.6 million in unreimbursed care in 2014; and

     WHEREAS, Both patients and staff at Thundermist are ethnically and racially diverse. In

order to provide the most accessible and best quality services, Thundermist follows the National

Standards on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services and buildings are fully

accessible to patients and staff with mobility challenges; and

     WHEREAS, Thundermist's commitment to health and wellness services and health

advocacy work extends into non-clinical programs also, including participation in Health Equity

Zones, a community garden, and farmers markets; and

     WHEREAS, For the past 50 years, Thundermist has grown and developed new programs

in order to provide comprehensive health care services to meet the needs of the people who need

it most in the communities it serves; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby congratulates Thundermist Health Center on 50 years of providing Rhode Islanders with

quality service and health care. We moreover thank all the Center's physicians, administrators and

staff on their commitment and dedication; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Jeanne LaChance, MBA, CPA, President and

Chief Executive Officer of Thundermist Health Center.

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LC002679

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