Amy Harding, left, vice president, regional sales officer at Lake Shore Savings, poses with Lindsay VandeVelde, practice manager for TRC Community Health Center.

Lake Shore Savings Bank has awarded $10,000 to help fund startup costs of a new healthcare entity.

The funding, provided by a Federal Home Loan Bank of New York small business development grant, will go to Community Inclusion, Inc, doing business as TRC Community Health Center. The money will cover some of the costs of establishing TRC Community Health Center as a specialty clinic focused on delivering quality healthcare to all people in the community, regardless of ability to pay. The clinic will specialize in serving those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The practice currently operates under The Resource Center’s auspices. The Resource Center intends to transfer its primary care, school-based health center, dental and podiatry services to TRC Community Health Center as of May 1, 2024. The Resource Center will continue to operate its other clinical services: behavioral health, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech/language therapy.

While TRC Community Health Center will focus on serving people with disabilities, the practice also will treat non-disabled members of the community. Current patients of The Resource Center’s primary care, school-based health center, dental and podiatry services will see their care automatically transferred to TRC Community Health Center. The Resource Center’s primary care, school-based health center, dental and podiatry health care providers and support staff will become employees of TRC Community Health Center, so there will be no change in people’s care.

The Resource Center and TRC Community Health Center will both operate out of the clinic’s current locations at 880 East Second Street in Jamestown and 186 Lake Shore Drive West in Dunkirk.

The Resource Center, whose primary mission is to support people with disabilities, has been providing clinical services for more than 30 years. The main purpose of offering those services was to ensure that area residents with disabilities who had complex medical issues would have reliable access to healthcare. The Resource Center later made those services available to anyone, especially people who had difficulty accessing healthcare locally.

Community Inclusion, Inc., which will operate the new TRC Community Health Center, is a Jamestown-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing high-quality, cost-effective and comprehensive primary and preventive healthcare with a goal of reducing health disparities, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. As a specialty clinic focused on serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, TRC Community Health Center will be able to seek higher reimbursement rates and will be eligible to receive federal grants to support its operations.

Resource Center officials look forward to the change in health care operations and the opportunities that will result.

“We are very excited to move to the next phase of this project, which will allow for continued focus on providing high-quality, patient-centered healthcare in our community. We look forward to a bright future ahead,” said Heather C. Brown, assistant executive director for clinical services. “We thank Lake Shore Savings for providing much-needed financial support as we prepare for the opening of the new clinic.”

Lake Shore Savings officials are pleased the $10,000 grant will help TRC Community Health Center be ready to meet the healthcare needs of people with disabilities and the general community when the clinic transitions operations from The Resource Center to Community Inclusion.

“At Lake Shore Savings, we believe that the success of our community depends on organizations like The Resource Center that work to improve the lives of people in need,” said Kim Liddell, president and chief executive officer. “We are grateful to support the establishment of TRC Community Health Center and look forward to the positive impact that it will make for our friends and neighbors.”