Jack Cradock is an exceptionally knowledgeable resource on both national and state health policy. With his over 40 years of leadership experience in community development, Jack fulfilled his vision of creating a full service health organization as the focus of community activities and participation through his 36-year career as President/CEO at East Boston Neighborhood Health Center. His skill in partnering with other organizations led to new ways of delivering care that addressed the health needs of individuals of all ages and have served as models of care across the nation. Jack’s legacy at East Boston includes an expansion of services to include specialty, eye and dental care, the building of state of the art health care facilities, the implementation of a health care educational and training institute and, most notably, the opening of Elder Service Plan (ESP), one of the initial PACE (Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) replication sites modeled after On Lok Senior Health Services in San Francisco which originated the PACE model in the early 1980s. Currently the East Boston center provides over 300,000 visits to over 75,000 patients.

East Boston was the first PACE organization in the country to be sponsored by a community health center. This pioneering work in caring for frail elders under the first national PACE demonstration program brought Jack’s work to national attention. He has served as Vice President of the National PACE Association and continues to work closely with national staff on issues concerning the PACE program. His commitment to the PACE model within a health center delivery system and his perseverance, track record and leadership within the PACE program resulted in the receipt of a Robert Wood Johnson grant for the first statewide PACE replication project.

East Boston’s state-wide replication initiative led to the development of 5 additional PACE organizations in Massachusetts (currently there are 8), three of which are sponsored by community health centers. Today, both Massachusetts and California successfully operate PACE programs through community health centers, enabling these organizations to address the entire continuum of health care and social service needs for the aging and disability populations in their communities.  In every sense, Jack’s leadership has provided the foundation for unifying the PACE model as a definitive medical home with the perfect reflection of community health center vision, mission and values.