BARRYVILLE, NY — While several hold-ups have slowed progress on the Highland Health Initiative (HHI), work is continuing to bring an innovative model of health care to Highland. 

HHI is a project to bring a community health hub to the Town of Highland, spearheaded by Dr. Chris Dickey, a clinical associate professor of global and environmental health with New York University’s School of Global Public Health. It will operate out fo the medical building formerly run by Richard and Cathy Daboul as River Valley Medical Services. 

Dickey told the River Reporter that renovations to the building are mostly complete. However, the building hasn’t yet received the necessary approval from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, which is necessary for it to open. 

Additionally, there have been delays in accessing funding for the project, Highland Town Supervisor John Pizzolato explained at a September 8 meeting of the Highland Town Board. 

“Our projection was that we would be open for the public in July or August or this month… there’s been budget delays within New York State, within our county, and just the very nature of working with the state on the compliance and the funding cycles has put this in a slight delay,” Pizzolato said. 

Sullivan Health Access, which is the nonprofit entity created to pursue HHI, will hold a fundraising gala to help with getting the project off the ground. It will take place Saturday, October 17 at 6 p.m. at Torrwood Farm, 198 Haring Road. Tickets start at $250; as of October 5, the gala has raised $20,200 toward a $100,000 goal. 

“We probably could have made it—been scrappy, done things, opened the clinic—but the thing that we want to be sure is that it lasts and that it has staying power,” said Pizzolato. “The last thing we would want to do is open, run out of money, and then open back up, or sell the project, start and stop, start and stop, because we really want to be that health and wellness source for the community, so we’re really trying to take every step we can to ensure the success.”

Systems of care

Dickey said the project team has a much clearer idea now of what HHI will be, partially thanks to the extra time afforded through the delays in getting the center opened. 

He said the medical system in the region would benefit from understanding the full range of people’s needs, not just their imminent health needs but also their broader health status (such as vital signs, diabetes status and colorectal cancer risk) as well as their social determinants (such as food insecurity and housing insecurity). The problem as Dickey sees it is that clinics and hospitals need to wait for people to feel like they’re sick enough to come and visit them.

“We would like to reach people way before that… we’d like to understand them,” said Dickey. 

HHI has a proposal (for which it’s seeking grant funding) for an evaluation process, where people can come to the center and have their needs understood. If a patient has an acute medical need, HHI could connect them to a provider; if they have a need socially, HHI could connect them with a food pantry or other source of aid.

Above all, HHI should be a community-driven initiative, Dickey insisted. “We have enormous community support. I feel like that’s maybe our biggest asset in trying to make this project work.”