Open Door Medical Center Receives Emergency $187K Pandemic Grant

OSSINING, NY — Open Door Family Medical Center has received an emergency grant of $187,500 for testing, triage and education about the coronavirus pandemic for its population of people who need access to low-cost health care.

The Open Door provides health services in Ossining, Port Chester, Sleepy Hollow, Mount Kisco, Brewster, Mamaroneck and Saugerties.

"Like many community health centers from across the country, our financial situation was seriously impacted by the pandemic, with virtually all of our efforts spent caring for the unanticipated volume of Covid-19 patients throughout the Lower Hudson Valley,” said Lindsay Farrell, President and CEO of Open Door. “The grant will help us close the financial gap."

Open Door was among 518 federally qualified health centers to receive funding from the $25 million Cov-19 Fund of medical aid organization Direct Relief, in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers.

“Access to primary care is what keeps people healthy and out of the hospital. The frontline work of Open Door and other nonprofit community health centers is more critical than ever with the onset of Covid-19,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “Direct Relief is doing everything possible to bolster the work and support the staff at the safety-net health facilities on which so many patients and their families rely."

Major funding to Direct Relief was contributed by companies such as 3M and concerned persons such as entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who organized an online Dance-a-Thon to raise funds for the purpose.

An estimated 30 million of America’s most vulnerable residents – one in 12 – rely on federally qualified health centers. That number is expected to rise as more people lose employer-sponsored insurance, officials said.

Open Door Family Medical Center’s mission has remained consistent since 1972: to provide high-quality health care that’s affordable, accessible and efficient.

Today, the federally qualified health center cares for nearly 1,000 adults and children every day in Westchester, Putnam and Ulster counties – with more than 300,000 patient visits and over 400 babies delivered annually – regardless of one’s ability to pay. In addition to medical, dental, pediatric, women’s, podiatry and behavioral health care offered in its Ossining, Port Chester, Sleepy Hollow, Mount Kisco, Brewster, Mamaroneck sites; eight School-Based Health Centers in the Ossining and Port Chester school districts; a mobile dental; and dental practice in Saugerties, Open Door promotes wellness, good nutrition, stress reduction and physical activity to help families stay healthy.