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6 Worcester Business Journal | May 29, 2023 | wbjournal.com BY ISABEL TEHAN WBJ Staff Writer T ensions ran high in an October meeting of the Worcester City Council's standing committee on public health and human services about the status of Family Health Center of Worcester. e meeting came aer the announcement of 35 layoffs, furloughs, the closing of FHCW's Webster and Southbridge locations, and at a time when the center's cash budget was operating on mere hours of reserves. Staff from the health center spoke about concerns, highlighting a lack of confidence in the center's contin- ued ability to provide quality care if circumstances did not change. "We are very concerned now that people's trust is not there," Jennifer Moffit, perinatal services manager, said in the Oct. 12 meeting. She cited the layoffs as disrupt- ing staff retention and morale, and a decreasing ability to invest in patients. Moffitt said she was not sure FHCW had the 120 days that leadership was proposing as time to imple- ment its plans for improvement. e center did make it through the 120 days, and now aer the conclusion of FHCW's "Better Together" go-forward plan, some particular painpoints have been addressed and a way onward appears tenable, though some communities remain jilted. "We've been able to move from on the edge to off of it," Lou Brady, FHCW's president and CEO, said in a May interview with WBJ. A place for those most in need e role family health centers play in a diverse com- munity like Worcester is essential. FHCW saw 27,000 unique patients in 2022, according to the final "Better Together" report. "Family Health Center is a really vital asset to our city," Worcester District 4 city councilor Sarai Rivera Resuscitated Aer closing key facilities and operating on mere hours of cash, the Family Health Center of Worcester is in a more stable financial position, in part due to higher insurance reimbursements PHOTOS | EDD COTE Susan Sleigh, chief operating officer at Family Health Center, was part of Family Health Center's billing optimization group during the 120-day plan. Lou Brady, president and CEO of Family Health Center, survived an effort in October by FHCW employees to have him replaced.