Dr. Michael Fine resigned in March as director of the R.I. Department of Health without seeing his dream of neighborhood health stations spread across the state come to fruition. But neither the intriguing idea nor Fine's pursuit of the dream are dead.
He's been working with Central Falls leaders to get the first of what he hopes will be at least 75 such stations – one for every 12,000 Rhode Islanders – up and running.
The concept, outlined in stories on pages 4 and 8, is to expand on traditional health services by including community needs such as yoga classes and even a farmer's market as part of a focus on preventive care.
The major hurdle, of course, is cost. But there is strong support in Central Falls, which has one of the highest child poverty rates in the state, to get the first one opened. Fine believes health care spending in the community could be reduced by 10-30 percent.
If he's right, other communities will take the leap - and that would be a meaningful step toward reining in health care spending. •