Dr. James Collins (center), chief medical officer for Mobile Primary Care, treats 6-year-old Nurhaliza Nazumia with his father, Ahmed Nazumia, at Catholic Charities Health Care Center, located on the Immigration and Refugee Assistance campus in Buffalo. The Nazumias are an immigrant family from Burma. (Patrick McPartland/Managing Editor)

A grand opening to celebrate the completion of the Catholic Charities Health Care Center, located on its Immigration and Refugee Assistance campus in Buffalo, now that both health care providers are operational, will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in the converted former Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, 10 Herkimer St., Buffalo. Brief remarks will begin at 3:30 p.m. All are invited.

Mobile Primary Care began providing medical care at the site in early 2016, and Baker Victory Dental Services recently was approved to start offering dental care as well.
The clinic offers a one-stop option for primary medical and dental care for refugees who are arriving through Catholic Charities.

Speaking at the event will be Catholic Charities Chief Executive Officer Dennis C. Walczyk; Diocesan Director Sister Mary McCarrick, OSF; Baker Victory Services CEO Terese Scofidio and Mobile Primary Care CEO Brian Egan.

In addition, a plaque remembering the families, women religious and clergy who served at the former parish through 2008, when it merged into Our Lady of Hope in Buffalo, will be dedicated, thanks to the generosity of Father Angelo Chimera who served the parish from 1989 to 2008.

Reconstruction of the church sanctuary, which was designed to retain much of the space's architecture, is striking and creative in its design and energy efficiency. It was completed in January 2016. The facility also houses offices for Catholic Charities' Immigration and Refugee Assistance case managers and a community meeting room.

"The completion of the Health Care Center is the realization of a dream, and we are thrilled to be able to share it with the community," said Walczyk.

The site represents another in a long line of creative re-use examples by Catholic Charities of former church buildings. Development partners were McGuire Development, architects Lauer-Manguso Associates and R&P Oak Hill Construction.