Yonkers Health Access Project

Yonkers, the fourth largest city in New York State, has been federally designated as a Medically Underserved Area.

The city lacks an adequate primary care infrastructure and access to care for its most disenfranchised residents, resulting in the use of the outpatient clinics of St. John’s Riverside and St. Joseph’s Medical Center as safety nets for low-income individuals. In 2009, as the worsening economic crisis threatened the capacity of these clinics to sustain its services, St. John’s Riverside and Hudson River HealthCare (HRHCare) decided to transition St. John’s two Valentine Lane Family Practice centers to HRHCare’s network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). That same year, NYHealth awarded a grant to HRHCare to assist in the transition from Valentine Lane Family Practice centers to HRHCare sites.