Group Health Cooperative opens Family Health Center on Capitol Hill on March 1, 1971.

  • By HistoryLink Staff
  • Posted 2/26/2006
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 7660
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On March 1, 1971, Group Health Cooperative opens the Family Health Center on Capitol Hill. The center is managed by Gertrude Dawson, Group Health's first African American nurse, who plays a major role in its design and who supervises its staff.

In June 1971, Senator Edward Kennedy toured the facility and praised Group Health Cooperative as a "model for reform" (Crowley, 134).

In 2006, the Family Health Center still offers pediatric services, family practice, consulting specialties, physical therapy, a pharmacy, a laboratory, and children's play areas. It also houses Group Health's Family Practice residency.


Sources: Walt Crowley, To Serve the Greatest Number: A History of Group Health Cooperative of Seattle (Seattle: GHC/University of Washington Press, 1995), 134; "Capitol Hill Family Health Center," Group Health Cooperative website accessed February 26, 2006 (http://www.ghc.org/locations/ medcenters/3/caphillfamhealth.jhtml).

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