In 1965, the first community health center in the nation opened in a basement space inside the Columbia Point housing development in Dorchester. Now named —in part— for the late doctor who founded it, the Geiger Gibson Community Health Center marked its 60th anniversary last Thursday (Dec. 11) at the nearby Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
The event, hosted by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (Mass League) and Harbor Health Services, featured a panel of pioneering leaders and award-winning photojournalists who helped share the history of the health center movement. It also recognized three recipients of the Champion for Health Justice award: Daniel Driscoll, Harbor Health’s first CEO; Joseph Feaster, Jr, former board chairman of Dimock Community Health Center; and Ellen Hafer, former COO at the Mass League.
“We thought it would be important, particularly with all of the federal policy shifts, to bring together our communities to celebrate 60 years of this movement, born out of civil rights,” said Michael Curry, president and CEO at Mass League. “The founding fathers and mothers of this movement were Bostonians; they were activist physicians. They were folks who understood that there was a reason why their neighborhoods experienced higher rates of sickness and death.”
“The challenge when that first health center opened, and the challenge in 2025 is the same,” Curry said in an interview. “How do we solve for the conditions, the circumstances that make people sick?”
He added: “It looks different. But the same underlying challenge in 1965, we have today, which is that our system of healthcare is not accessible. It’s not affordable, and it’s often not equitable. Therefore, the outcome of that is higher rates of morbidity and mortality, too often in the communities that health centers serve.”
Gieger’s medical director, Dr. Caroline Mullin, said the care offered today at the Mount Vernon Street center is still rooted in the same principles that motivated Dr. Jack Geiger and his supporters six decades ago.
“The community health center movement was born with the intention of having open access to everyone who walks through the door, and we still really stand by that,” Mullin said. “In a time where folks can’t find primary care doctors or are losing their health insurance, community health centers across the commonwealth are standing up loudly and proudly and saying you can still walk through our doors.”
Curry agrees that the mission remains the same— and is still fragile.
“We can’t be tethered to the way we’ve always done healthcare,” Curry said. “And the way we’ve done healthcare is it’s a sick care system. So we see you when you get sick, but we don’t invest in primary care. I think the solution we already have at hand, which is invest in primary care to invest in community health, to invest in community health centers.”
Among the photo-journalists recognized at the EMK Institute event were Dorchester native Bill Brett, a longtime Boston Globe photographer; Don West, whose photos have appeared in the Bay State Banner and The Reporter; and Boston-based Lou Jones.
