Small, uncomfortable patient waiting
rooms will soon be a thing of the past at Jericho Road Community Health Center,
184 Barton St., as this will be one of the spaces renovated in the facility.
There will be numerous additions to the center, which will include a larger
waiting room for patients and a newly renovated sanctuary. Renovations will be
worked on during two different timeframes in what the center is calling phase
one and phase two. During the first phase, which started in early October, the
community center will update its parking lot, add a new side entrance with
automatic doors and a ramp and enlarge the kitchen to accommodate 110 seats. A
pharmacy will be added during the second phase beginning in mid-December.
Islama Bashtik, secretary at Jericho Road Community Health Center, said
patients are excited about the changes. “A few are a bit alarmed due to
possible patient increases, appointments times and waiting long hours to see a doctor,” said Bashtik. “However, for the
most part a lot of our patients want to be able to have access to an on-site
pharmacy rather than traveling to their local Tops or Rite Aid.” Both phases are
expected to be complete by the summer of 2018. By Elie Fortune and Nikita Singh