Buffalo, NY – Neighborhood Health Center of WNY, a nonprofit organization and Federally Qualified Health Center that provides medical, dental and behavioral health services in Western New York, today announced the naming identity of its newest office, slated to open early 2022 and located at 1569 Niagara Street: Neighborhood Health Center | Riverway. The new office, which officially broke ground in late February 2021, is currently under construction and when complete, will immediately become the primary care home to more than 4,000 patients in need of quality and affordable healthcare.

The new 26,000 square foot office will be joining the two already established Neighborhood Health Center city offices – Neighborhood Health Center | Mattina and Neighborhood Health Center | Northwest. Construction of the new Riverway office, which is geographically located at the corner of Niagara Street and Forest Avenue and adjacent to the Niagara River, includes converting a previously used warehouse and storage facility into a state-of-the-art medical center and future home to the practice’s full complement of services, including Internal/Family Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Dentistry, Behavioral Health, Nutritional Counseling, Podiatry and Pharmacy services. The Riverway office will also operate as an additional anchor administrative office.

The name for the Health Center’s newest office was provided, in large part, via input from community stakeholders. “Neighborhood Health Center, is a welcoming primary care facility for all of our neighbors and community members and is something that we definitely wanted to capture in not only the naming process, but also in the selection of a unique name for this location and office concept,” said Joanne Haefner, Chief Executive Officer of Neighborhood Health Center. “We were thrilled to receive so much enthusiasm and engagement from our supporters regarding our expansion and naming process for the new office. We love how the selected name of Riverway, ties well into the fabric of this specific area of the city.”

In addition to opening Neighborhood Health Center | Riverway for primary care, this new office will also have expanded integrated services, such as behavioral health and nutritional care with plans to incorporate a new community “wellness center.”

“As public health advocates, we know that the current pandemic has shined a light on the importance of our preventative services and need to continue to address the social determinants of health that many of our patients and beloved community members experience,” added Joanne. “Anchoring a new community wellness center at this site is a part of our ongoing strategy to continue to move the needle on our emergency room divergence programs by providing additional on-site comprehensive support services to improve the lives of patients.”

As a medical practice, the announcement of this fifth location further aligns with the Neighborhood Health Center’s recent expansion efforts over the past three years including: the recent purchase of the long occupied office at 300 Niagara Street from Kaleida Health; the Neighborhood Health Center Southowns office relocation; expansions to Neighborhood Health Center at Blasdell; and recent additions at the organization’s Northwest office.

Neighborhood Health Center has been the region’s leading primary care safety-net provider for more than 30 years and provides high-quality comprehensive healthcare services to all Western New Yorkers, regardless of ability to pay.

Neighborhood Health Center is currently the primary care home to more than 25,000 Western New Yorkers.