By TRACEY DRURY
tdrury@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1609

The Southern Tier's largest provider of services to the disabled is exploring an expansion of primary-care services, building on an existing service it offers to the general public.

The Resource Center (TRC) began a feasibility study to explore what kind of support exists from community partners and other stakeholders to open a one-stop site in the City of Jamestown's downtown medical corridor.

Already, the organization provides primary-care services to about 13,000 patients through a primary-care clinic in Jamestown. Those services include primary care, dental, podiatry, speech therapy and other health services, though care is scattered between various sites in Dunkirk and Jamestown. The feasibility study will take a closer look at what kind of support can be found, both financial and other, to provide more comprehensive care.

"We're the only safety-net provider and we have plans to align ourselves through health-care reform by attempting to come up with a facility where these services are provided in an integrated fashion," says Paul Cesana, chief executive of TRC.

The Resource Center primarily offers services to individuals with disabilities. With revenues topping $100 million, it's yhe largest nonprofit service provider in the Chautauqua region. The primary-care services came about as additional services for clients and their families. Today, about 10 percent of the county's population comes to the agency for safety-net health-care services, Cesana says.

"It's all open to the community, these and mental health services, social work," he says. "We serve a lot of people where there may be socioeconomic barriers, cultural barriers or a family system breakdown that usually require more extensive intervention."

Other providers in the region call TRC a vital provider of primary care.

"They're huge in the safety net in the Jamestown area," says Anne Abdella, executive director of the Chautauqua County Health Network, whose members include WCA Hospital, Westfield Memorial, TLC and Brooks Memorial Medical Center.

She voiced concern, however, about  TRC's plan to move services away from the current site on East Second Street, in close proximity to several community agencies, a food pantry and other services for seniors and young families. However, the site being considered is not far from a soup kitchen and other human-service providers.