Source: NY Times, R. Kaysen
12/12/2012
The community health center rising on a derelict corner here
in West Philadelphia never would have broken ground if not for the asbestos
inside the building that was demolished to make way for it. Because of the
contamination, Spectrum Health Services received a $2 million federal cleanup
grant, the first piece of a $14 million construction financing puzzle.
When complete, the 36,000-square-foot building will provide
a new home for a health center that has been squeezed into a deteriorating
strip mall nearby for decades. It will also be the latest in a nationwide trend
to replace contaminated tracts in distressed neighborhoods with health centers,
in essence taking a potential source of health problems for a community and
turning it into a place for health care. In recent years, health care
facilities have been built on cleaned-up sites in Florida, Colorado, New
Hampshire, Minnesota, Oregon and California.
"These health care providers are getting good at
it," said Elizabeth Schilling, policy manager for Smart Growth America, an
advocacy group. "They have internalized the idea that this is an
opportunity for them."
Because these sites are contaminated, many qualify for
government tax credits and grants, providing health centers with vital seed
money to build. Community health centers, by design, exist to serve populations
in poor neighborhoods, where there also tend to be available but contaminated
properties like old gas stations, repair shops and industrial sites.
