Kenosha Community Health Center names new CEO

Starting Aug. 1, Brent Rafferty will be responsible and accountable for managing the administrative and health care activities for the center. He will be expected to work closely with community leaders to help meet the health care needs of low-income area residents.

Rafferty was recognized by the board of directors at the federally qualified health center in Lexington, Ky., where he provided a year of emergency interim leadership that resulted in sustainable growth and strong financial performance, according to a statement from KCHC.

“I am excited to become a part of the Kenosha community and will work tirelessly and in concert with local leadership to ensure the Kenosha Community Health Center delivers improved health outcomes to the community, especially to those who need us most,” Rafferty said in a statement.

Rafferty earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Fla., and a Master of Business Administration in health care administration from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. He has also completed a Master’s Certificate in Six Sigma Healthcare at Villanova University.

KCHC serves more than 21,000 patients and is the fourth largest federally qualified health center in Wisconsin. Rafferty will replace Mary Coffey, who served for more than three years at the medical and dental clinic serving low-income families. She will remain at KCHC through the transition.

“I really enjoyed my time here. … I will miss the staff and the people we serve,” Coffey said. “I will always be involved serving the under-served.”

Among the projects undertaken during Coffey’s tenure were renovations and expansions of the Kenosha clinic, plus planning work to bring a clinic to Silver Lake and a mobile health clinic that would serve Racine and western Kenosha County.

“The major debt when I came in has been lifted, projects have gotten started, other projects have been completed,” Coffey said. “There was a lot of things to get in order here.”

But Coffey’s tenure has not always been an easy one.

She came under fire last June after a layoff of dental hygienists. She and the administration said the layoffs were of positions that were redundant to center operations; a decrease in dentists meant fewer hygienists were needed.