NACHC Washington Update

After Katrina,Lousiana Rebuilds Health Care

The building blocks of an affordable primary health care infrastructure in Louisiana are finally being laid with the handover of a $41,500,000 dollar check to the Lousiana Primary Care Association. The funds will boost availability of primary care health services to the state's ranks of uninsured and medically underserved people-- especially in communities in and around Katrina's footprint-- through federally supported Community Health Centers. Health centers have already played a key role in providing preventive and primary health services to low income and chronically ill people in the immediate aftermath of the massive storm. With the Charity Hospital system effectively broken after Katrina, health centers now have the resources to provide Lousianians with a health care home, no matter their insurance status or ability to pay. Check out the press release Download lousianapressrelease.pdf

White House Celebrates Health Center Expansion

The Bush Administration touts health center expansion as a major feather in its cap. This week the Department of Health and Human Services heralded the completion of the President’s health center initiative. “People served by health centers are among the most vulnerable in America,” said Secretary Leavitt in a press release issued last week. “By extending care to communities where none existed before, we are strengthening the nation’s health care safety net for those with nowhere to turn.”
President Bush was also on point as he delivered praise of the health center mission just as fights over next year’s budget reach a boiling point on Capitol Hill. During a visit to One World Community Health Center in Omaha, NE, the President touted the accomplishments of the federal Health Centers program, and committed to “working with Congress to continue to expand the reach of these important facilities.” More on the President’s remarks here.

Colorado's Breakfast of Champions Draws a Real Champion

In Colorado Springs, a real champion attended the third annual breakfast of champions at Peak Vista Community Health Center. The health center held its third annual fundraising event featuring Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee. The former track and field star provided the keynote at the event, which raised more than $100,000 for primary medical, dental and behavioral health services for working families in the Pikes Peak Colorado region. Though not gold medalists, the other champions we should mention are the doctors, dentists, nurses and volunteers at Peak Vista who care for 52 thousand patients a year. Now that's medal-worthy too! Here's the press release:Download bocpost_press2007.pdf

Board members from Peak Vista Community Health Centers and major sponsors join BJ Scott, President and CEO (second from left) and Keynote Speaker and Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee (center), at the third annual Breakfast of Champions fundraiser in Colorado Springs, CO on November 7. The event enhances awareness, generates funds for direct patient care and recognizes "champions" associated with Peak Vista. Attendees numbered 630 with more than $100,000 raised to assist the 52,000 patients Peak Vista serves each year in Colorado's El Paso and Teller counties.

The Buzz About Health Centers

With health care reform reaching a crescendo in Washington and on the Presidential stump, it's nice to see a few minds focused on health care solutions that are a tested model. America's Health Centers are just such a model and folks are paying attention. A case in point is this week's New York Times, which cited health centers as "being hailed for delivering economical care to the nation’s uninsured, with Mr. Bush calling them a “really good use of taxpayers’ money.'" Check out the article here.
Also the Bob's Blog on the California Endowment had this to say: "For too long, America has viewed community health centers quite uni-dimensionally: as the place where poor people and the uninsured can access health services. While this is true, it is a limited view. Community health centers (CHCs in shorthand) represent this nation’s best investment of this nation’s health care dollar; no other dollar spent comes close." You can read more here.

Good News is Happening Everywhere

The great care delivered at Community Health Centers continues to make headlines. In Michigan, the Peoples' Clinic for Better Health in Port Huron, drew the notice of the local paper. "They are a godsend. They're wonderful here. The doctors take care of me," a patient at the health center told a reporter from the Times Herald. Also, in New Jersey, the Plainfield Health Center is the talk of the town because doctors there "go beyond the call of duty." Check out the Download courier_news_article_plainfield_health_center_talk_of_the_town_072307.pdf
You can also read about Westside Health in Delaware, one of the fastest growing health centers in the country. Click on the article here. And while we're on a roll, check out this article from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We also found this great write up in the "show me" state of Missouri. And this article in New York. Click here to read about health centers in Arizona.

USA TODAY Takes A Look At the Safety Net

Just want to point out a great article this week in USA TODAY about Community Health Centers, by reporter Larry Wheeler ("Health Centers Offer a Safety Net But Rising Demand a Strain"). The article takes a comprehensive look at the mission and work of health centers that treat medically underserved and more "uninsured patients who otherwise might go without prenatal care, cancer screenings, diabetes treatment and a long list of other services."
"I have no idea where else I would go for health care," said Shirley Dorsey, 51, a patient at Baltimore Medical System's health center tells the newspaper. "It's important to have some place where poor people who don't have insurance can come and not be afraid of being turned away." You can read the story here. Vermont's Burlington Free Press also ran an editorial, noting, that "more and more employers are saying they are struggling to keep providing the job-based insurance that has been the backbone of health care access in this country... Against this background, Community Health Centers offer a model that delivers efficient, community-based care that can save money. It's worth considering if this model has a bigger role to play in our health care system." Check it out here.

St. Lawrence University Honors Health Center Leader

We are so darned proud of Lindsay Farrell, President and CEO of Open Door Family Medical Centers, located in Ossining, NY. Lindsay was recently honored at St. Lawrence University with the Sol Feinstone Award for Humanitarian Service. Farrell, who graduated from St. Lawrence in 1979, was recognized for her commitment to making affordable healthcare “available to all, not just the privileged.”
The Sol Feinstone Award for Humanitarian Service was established in 1978 and is presented to a graduate who, through devotion of his or her resources of personal effort, has demonstrated deep commitment to the advancement of the freedom of people to pursue and attain personal, professional and economic freedom.
The award comes as Lindsay celebrates her 20th anniversay with Open Door. She joined the Community Health Center as a volunteer back when it was a small site with a fledgling site, and became the President & CEO in 1998. Today she oversees a dedicated staff of 250 people, 4 full service medical offices and 2 school based health centers in Westchester County with an annual budget of $21 million. Open Door Family Medical Centers serves a vast multi-cultural community and has provided top quality medical and dental care and social services to the Westchester community, particularly the economically disadvantaged, for 35 years.

Must See TV

Kudos to the Michigan Primary Care Association for winning a top award in a national contest for their video about Community Health Centers in the State. “Michigan Community Health Centers,” was chosen among 4,300 entries submitted for the 2007 Healthcare Advertising Award. You can watch the video from the MPCA website.
While we're on the subject of winning videos about health centers, check out the mini-documentary about the patients and staff at Lake Superior Community Health Center in Wisconsin produced by Dan Woods. The documentary, entitled, "Sick, Scare, and Uninsured" can be viewed via a link on the health center's web site.

Breaking Down Barriers in Delaware

We like it when good ideas and resources meet in the same place to solve a problem. That's what is going on in Delaware at Westside Health in New Castle County. The health center and pharmaceautical giant AstraZeneca marked Cover the Uninsured Week by launching the “Healthy Delawareans, Today and Tomorrow” initiative. The program will address the issue of access to care for the uninsured by minimizing barriers such as transportation and affordable services. This is something health centers do very well, and even better when they have enough funding. Thanks to AstraZeneca, five Community Health Centers statewide will have patient navigators to act as case managers and help patients access healthcare services. But it doesn't stop there: AstraZeneca employees will help uninsured patients through a volunteer program called “Healthcare Heroes.” More than 350 volunteers will lend support to partner clinics and other healthcare settings around the state. As you can see here, some of them already showed up for some spring cleaning at Westside. Download westsidepressrlease.doc

AstraZeneca Volunteers at the newly opened Northeast Health, owned and operated by Westside Health

On the Road Again with Medicare

Why the grins you ask? Those smiling faces belong to the staff at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)who were on hand to help kick off the next Medicare bus road trip. The "A Healthier US Starts Here" campiagn by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will focus on motivating seniors to make the most of Medicare’s preventive services. During the spring and summer, the Medicare Prevention tour bus will make pit stops in all of the 48 continental United States to promote conversations between people with Medicare, families, caregivers, health professionals, and community organizations about the life-saving benefits of preventive care. It's a good bet a few of those stops will be at a Communiity Health Center-- just over 7 percent of health center patients rely on Medicare. To learn more about the prevention bus tour, here's the press release. Download a_healthier_us_bab.pdf