Eastham, MA — October 15, 2025
Speaking at the Nauset Fellowship’s Chapel in the Pines in Eastham on Sunday, Outer Cape Health Services CEO Dr. Damian Archer urged Cape Cod residents and policymakers to unite in defending equitable access to care as community health centers across the country face mounting financial and ethical challenges.
The program, titled “Meeting the Moment: The Future of Healthcare on Cape Cod,” drew a standing-room audience at the historic UU Chapel, where Dr. Archer described the growing strain on the Cape’s healthcare system — from workforce shortages and housing insecurity to the systemic inequities that threaten access to care for all.
“Healthcare on the Cape is a safety net under siege,” Dr. Archer said. “The Cape is a place of extraordinary beauty, but also of deep inequity. We must act together now to preserve access to care before it’s too late.”
Dr. Archer traced the roots of Outer Cape Health Services to its founding in the 1960s, when local volunteers and physicians joined forces to create a community health center in Wellfleet. Decades later, that same spirit of collaboration and compassion, he said, remains essential to sustaining healthcare access for residents of the ten outermost towns of Cape Cod.
A Mission Under Threat
Echoing themes from the recent op-ed “Losing Our Mission: A Crisis for Community Health Centers,” co-authored with fellow healthcare leaders, Dr. Archer warned that federal funding cuts and restrictive policies are forcing safety net providers into a moral and operational crisis.
“Healthcare is a business in this country — and that is the fundamental flaw,” he said. “When policies threaten our ability to care for everyone, regardless of income or insurance, we’re asked to choose between our mission and our survival. That is an impossible choice.”
The resulting strain, Dr. Archer explained, contributes to clinician burnout, long waitlists for primary care, and the erosion of trust between patients and providers. Yet he also emphasized that local action — rooted in community partnerships, advocacy, and innovation — can counter these national pressures.
Finding Opportunity in Crisis
Despite the sobering realities, Dr. Archer framed the current moment as an opportunity for the Cape to chart its own course.
He called for greater investment in local housing solutions for essential workers, expanded use of telehealth and mobile services, and a renewed commitment to community-based collaboration.
“We know this community best,” Dr. Archer said. “If we work together — residents, policymakers, and providers — we can build resilience and strengthen the safety net just as our founders did.”
He closed his talk with a reflection on the enduring connection between faith, courage, and public service, reciting the Serenity Prayer that hung above his family’s dining table growing up — a message, he said, that continues to guide his leadership today.
“The Cape is worth fighting for,” Dr. Archer concluded. “So are the people who call it home.”