Thanks to all who have supported Families First for nearly four decades
Read more about the Families First move in Portsmouth.
Feb. 3 – To the Editor:
As Families First settles in to its new and impressive Portsmouth facility, I write with gratitude to all who have helped one of our region’s most important resources get to this defining moment.
For nearly four decades, Families First has been providing health care to Seacoast residents regardless of their ability to pay. That care has been and continues to be comprehensive and complete: integrated services that provide first-rate medical, dental and behavioral health care and family support programs to the insured and uninsured. We’re in the business of keeping our neighbors healthy.
Families First began as a small prenatal clinic at Portsmouth Regional Hospital founded by Lindsay Josephs and others. Its mission to improve care for underserved new mothers blossomed over the next 34 years, a chapter led by Helen Taft that added primary care, dental care, family support, mobile health care and increasingly important behavioral health and recovery services.
We expanded once again in 2018 through a merger with Goodwin Community Health and Lilac City Pediatrics that created Greater Seacoast Community Health. Now led by Janet Laatsch, we help more than 18,000 people every year. And because of a tremendous outpouring of financial support, we are now operating in a first-rate medical center. Our mission hasn’t changed, but our facility is bigger and better than ever, just like our resolve.
Based on the original model of caring for the whole person, and with the support of dedicated staff members, volunteers, and donors, we have taken this community health center to the next level. Families First’s move to 8 Greenleaf Woods Drive enables us to expand services and help even more patients and families, thus improving the overall health of our community.
As with all major collaborative projects, there are so many to thank: The Foundation for Seacoast Health, our landlord at the Community Campus and major grant funder for many years; the generous volunteers and community members who gave their time and financial resources to the capital campaign for our new building; and the dedicated staff, which continues to meet the mission despite the challenges brought by the pandemic. Thank you one and all.
We can’t do this vital work without you. We encourage anyone to consider us when in need of primary care, dental services, and any of the many other programs we offer. We are here for you. Thank you for being there for us.
Joann Neumann
Development Director
Greater Seacoast Community Health
