DotHouse Health will celebrate the official dedication of its new name with a ribbon cutting event on Tuesday, April 28 at their Dorchester Avenue facility. Former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy will officiate at the 12 p.m. event.
Formerly known as the Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, the health center has long been dubbed the “DotHouse” by locals. The new identity— rolled out last fall and implemented with a new logo and signage in recent weeks— seeks to emphasize the health care service and values that are central to the center’s mission.
“The name is a better reflection of what we do,” explains Ryan Gilbert, a spokesman for DotHouse Health.
Dorchester House was founded 127 years ago as one of a network of “settlement houses” that assisted families across the city. Over time, it has come to offer a mixture of social services— from legal clinics and classes on parenting and language to summer camps for teenagers. The facility includes a gymnasium and newly-restore pool, which are also available to the community to use for a membership fee.
But as the name suggests, DotHouse Health has a primary mission of providing quality health care to Dorchester’s residents.
“Our brand captures the great clinical and community care that all patients can receive at our health center. DotHouse Health is the leading force for the change in health, economic and social wellbeing for our community,” said Peter van Kalkeren, the Chief Business Development Officer for DotHouse Health.
Presently, DotHouse Health is in the process of renovating several former offices that are being converted into additional exam rooms. Two new exam rooms have just been added to the pediatric department and work started this week to add two more to the center’s adult medicine wing.
The April 28 event will focus more on the name change itself, said van Kalkeren.
“We’ve been getting very positive feedback from our patients,” said van Kalkeren. They like the new colors and the green is really well received. We’ve been getting a lot of questions about what it stands for. It’s giving us a bump in terms of getting the point across that we are a health center that’s very much in touch with the community that it serves.”
For more information and to RSVP to the April 28 celebration, call Amy Ebozue at 617-740-2526 or email amy.ebozue@dothousehealth.org. DotHouse Health is located at 1353 Dorchester Ave.