Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | February 20, 2017 | wbjournal.com F O C U S B U S I N E S S L E A D E R S W B J H A L L O F F A M E I N D U C T E E Frances M. Anthes President & CEO, Family Health Center of Worcester Location: Worcester Employees: 378 Growing impact: The Family Health Center is expanding into Worcester East Middle School – its seventh school center. In her 25 years with Family Health Center of Worcester – including 20 as president and CEO – Anthes has com- mitted herself to doing just that. Under her leadership, Family Health Center of Worcester has physically expanded into the Webster Public Schools and into Southbridge, increased residency pro- grams to include training for nurse practitioners, dentists, social workers and others, and added an onsite phar- macy and other capabilities, including breast cancer screening. "Fran is a visionary," said Louis Bond, the chairman of the board at Family Health Center. "She has a firm view of the larger picture, which includes the great need to supply health care for all." Population needs All of this has been done to accom- modate a growing patient population – which was about 12,000 when she came on as CEO and has since tripled. Anthes understands in order to improve the health of a community as a whole, those in the medical industry need to focus on social determinants of health – including access to transporta- tion, as well as housing and economic Anthes grew health nonprofit into a community force W hile working as a teacher shortly after gradu- ating from college, Frances M. Anthes started to notice how a child's health impacted his or her academic performance. Since then, she has made it her goal to provide everyone – regardless of eco- nomic status – with access to comprehensive health care. status. That's why it's important for Family Health Center to offer as many services as it possibly can, she said. "As a community health center, we really try to be really comprehensive – we try to be a one-stop shop," she said. "One of the reasons we try to do that is because a lot of times, patients have trouble getting to other sites." Anthes is constantly looking for ways to work with patients and other com- munity organizations to maximize the potential of the health center's reach, Bond said. Under her leadership, Family Health Center has expanded into six Worcester public schools. A partnership with a seventh, Worcester East Middle School, is underway. "She understands the intricate work- ings of the political system at work in the Worcester area, and the general dynamics of the community at large," Bond said. "She is an excellent adminis- trator/manager, and at the same time cares for each person who walks through the center's doors." A New Jersey native, Anthes original- ly came to Worcester to attend Assumption College, where she gradu- ated with a bachelor of arts in 1973. She said she likes Worcester because it is diverse and full of interesting peo- ple and resources, but small enough where she can make an impact. "I like it as a city that's the size in which you can get involved and have an impact in things that are going on," Anthes said. W BY LAURA FINALDI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer P H O T O / N A T H A N F I S K E Frances Anthes has led the Family Health Center through a tumultuous period in the healthcare field, all while the population's needs have shifted.

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