Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | April 15, 2019 | wbjournal.com H E A L T H C A R E F OC U S New perspective Lou Brady takes over at Family Health Center as care becomes increasingly strained and complex BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor L ou Brady began his career not working to improve health care but near the opposite end of the spectrum: selling break- fast cereal. Brady, the new president and CEO of the Family Health Center of Worcester, graduated college with a management degree and became a sales representa- tive for New York manufacturer General Foods, selling Post cereal in Connecti- cut. It wasn't the type of career he had in mind, and he realized it one day while setting up a display. "Do I really want my legacy to be sugary cereal?" he asked himself. Brady's tasks these days are far different. Brady took over April 1 for Frances Anthes, leading a public service agency Anthes helmed for 22 years. e Family Health Center isn't what it used to be: In the past decade, the annual patient count has risen by one-fih to 35,000 patients. Only 6,500 patients a year passed through the doors when Anthes took over in 1997. Needs are more pressing than ever. ree out of four patients live below the poverty line, making it difficult to buy healthy food or a gym membership, or afford child care to get to work or appointments. Nearly half of the health center's patients now speak a language other than English, oen making some- thing as simple as a physical check-up more complex to arrange. e center's staff now speaks more than 50 languages. Overcoming cultural barriers Brady, with two decades of experi- ence in public health care behind him, is up to the challenge. Brady grew up in Springfield as the youngest of four boys, with a moth- er from St. Lucia and a father from Jamaica. His father didn't visit a doctor until he was 74 – a fact, Brady says, that illustrates a lack of trust certain cultures have for doctors. Brady and his staff at the center are constantly working to overcome this problem. When a patient goes in for a check- up, he or she could be referred to an on-site dentist or eye doctor, or receive addiction treatment services. With mammography, HIV care and other specialties in house, someone with a reluctance to go to the doctor's office doesn't have to worry about making it to a range of different locations. "We show love to the unloved. We see those who are overlooked," Brady said in an interview in his office, in one of a few instances of turning to rhetoric to describe a mission oen including trying to solve relentless issues like substance abuse and homelessness. It was Brady's parents who – even if they long didn't recognize the value of a medical check-up – taught their sons to value their work in a deeper way. "You have a higher calling, and you need to figure out what that is," Brady said of his parents message. The consensus choice At the Family Health Center, that calling has brought Brady to spend his first days meeting with key figures in the city and introducing himself to staff. He worked for weeks with Anthes to smoothen the transition, and already is looking for ways to increase capacity to treat more patients, especially for prima- ry care and substance abuse. "We're straining to meet that need," he said. Plans to potentially expand capacity are balanced against pulls in other di- rections, including the center's partic- ipation in a new state program called the Community Care Cooperative, a network of similar providers working together to treat MassHealth patients. e health center, which has its main facility on Queen Street, has offices in seven schools in Worcester and Webster and a center in Southbridge. e Family Health Center's board of directors found near unanimity in Lou Brady started working at Family Health Center of Worcester on March 11 to enable a smooth transition from its former CEO. PHOTO/MATT WRIGHT

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