Jefferson Park Clinic Opening Scheduled for Early Spring

The North Cambridge Health Care and Social Services Center will open to serve residents of that area this spring, a member of the clinic's planning board said yesterday.

The clinic will be affiliated with Cambridge Hospital, a teaching hospital for several Boston area medical schools, including Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Robert A. Berezin, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and board member, said the clinic will provide inexpensive psychiatric care, obstetric and gynecological services, and family planning advice to the 1000 residents of the Jefferson Park housing project and the surrounding area.

Margaret Wolder, an employee of North Cambridge Mental Health, said the clinic may later expand to include pediatrics if the clinic is well-used.

The planning board includes tenants of Jefferson Park, residents of the North Cambridge community, and other health care professionals.

The clinic plans to hire full-time nurse practitioners and a receptionist.

Cambridge Hospital will provide consultant doctors from its staff.

Dr. Heather M. Day, director of the clinics in the Cambridge area, said Wednesday all clinics are funded through grants from the state of Massachusetts and the city of Cambridge. Any deficit is covered by charging patients small fees based on a sliding scale of income.

Wolder said the planning board has begun surveying residents' reactions to the clinic. She said that of the responses she has received, most Jefferson Park and North Cambridge residents said they will use the service.

The clinic's location in the high rise building at Jefferson Park will be ready for occupancy during February, Wolder said.