Community Health & Wellness Partners announces that its president and CEO, Tara D. Bair, has been awarded the prestigious Dolores J. Lindsay Award for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership by the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers (OACHC).
The Dolores J. Lindsay Award is bestowed annually to a community health center executive who has made significant contributions to the community health center movement in Ohio.
This award honors the legacy of Dolores J. Lindsay, who founded Ohio’s first health center, The HealthCare Connection (formerly the Lincoln Heights Health Center), in Cincinnati in 1967.
CHWP has shown remarkable growth over the past decade. According to UDS reports, CHWP served 2,531 patients in 2014 and 12,278 patients in 2024, marking a 385 percent increase in patient numbers over the last 10 years.
This growth is a testament to Bair’s visionary leadership and commitment to expanding healthcare access, noted Julie DiRossi King, OACHC president and CEO, during the presentation of the award April 14 at OACHC’s 2025 Spring Conference.
“Tara, you have made us (OACHC) better. You have been a great example of the community health movement,” DiRossi King said.
Community Health Centers, including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-Alikes (LALs), play a crucial role in providing essential health services to nearly 1 million patients annually across Ohio. These centers operate at over 500 locations in 76 of Ohio’s 88 counties, offering care to the uninsured and underinsured.
Bair, who graduated magna cum laude from Urbana University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management, has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare field. She also served as the OACHC board chair from April 2023 to April 2025,
Since joining CHWP, Bair has been instrumental in its development, planning, and securing essential grant funding. Under her guidance, CHWP has grown to serve more than 13,000 patients and hosts over 48,000 patient visits annually.
Along with a team of 17 board of directors and 11 staff members, Bair led to the development of the first community health center in Logan County, later expanding into Champaign County, with a one-stop shop primary care practice focusing on the whole-person.
Community Health & Wellness Partners opened in West Liberty in 2014, and in 2022, opened in Urbana.
During 2016, Bair successfully negotiated a merger with a 50-year-old community practice, establishing CHWP as the largest primary health care system in Champaign and Logan counties. The organization has expanded from two locations in 2014 to five locations today.
As of March 2025, CHWP also operates five school-based health centers at Benjamin Logan Schools, Graham Local Schools, Indian Lake Schools, Riverside Local Schools and West Liberty-Salem Schools. These centers provide primary care and behavioral health services to students, addressing increasing needs for anxiety, depression, and ADHD support.
Over the years, Bair has led her team to introduce various programs that remove barriers and meet the needs of the patients. One example includes starting a robust substance use treatment program, where CHWP was the first health center in the community to offer a structured program of medication, assisting with behavioral health and social services.
In addition, CHWP offers a diabetes education program accredited by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) and certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which has significantly improved patients’ A1C levels.
In another program aiming to increase patient access, CHWP opened an in-house pharmacy program in December of 2024 that serves Champaign and Logan county residents with free medication delivery.
Under Bair’s leadership, CHWP has earned numerous accreditations and recognitions, including from The Joint Commission and Community Health Center Quality Recognition Badges from the Health Resources and Services Administration.
The CHWP president and CEO is often heard emphasizing, “Meeting patients where they are and providing care is our approach to serving our community. We work hard to remove barriers — making care accessible to anyone and everyone.”
This sentiment reflects her unwavering dedication to improving healthcare accessibility and her relentless efforts to enhance patient care through innovative programs and expansions, CHWP officials said in a release.
“Her leadership has been pivotal in transforming CHWP into a cornerstone of community health in Champaign, Logan and surrounding counties.”
