| |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2005
Local community health centers recognized
for National Health Center Week
August 7-13, 2005
Local community health centers | Important health center facts
Santa Rosa, CA — Did you know that one of every six people living in Sonoma County - fully 75,000 individuals - get their health care from a community health center?
 August 7-13, 2005 is National Health Centers Week. Community health centers play a vital role in the health care system in our county – and yet most people are unfamiliar with where we are located, who we serve, what services we provide, or who can access care at a community health center. Why not take this opportunity to educate the public about the contribution that community health centers are making to local health care?
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors presented a resolution at its meeting today in recognition of the contribution community health centers make to our local health care system and quality of life.
L to R: (back) Naomi Fuchs, Nancy Oswald, Mike Reilly;
(front)Elizabeth Chicoine and Marty Dekay.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors resolution was presented to:
- Naomi Fuchs, CEO of SCHC
- Nancy Oswald, Executive Director of Redwood Community Health Coalition
- Elizabeth Chicoine, Director of Health Programs for CAPSonoma (Roseland Children's Health Center)
- Marty Dekay, Community Program Director of West County Health Centers, Inc.
... who were present to receive this recognition on behalf of all community health clinics in Sonoma County. Also on hand were Rita Scardaci, Director of the County of Sonoma Department of Health Services, and Mary Maddux-Gonzalez, Director of the County of Sonoma Department of Health Services' Public Health Division.
The U.S. Senate also unanimously passed a resolution (S. Res. 31) commemorating National Health Center Week. The bill, co-sponsored by 30 senators, honors community, migrant, and homeless health Centers for their "responsive and cost-effective health care," and praises their 40-year record of keeping communities healthy and disease-free. The theme of this year's National Health Center week is "A Model for Today – A Solution for Tomorrow," speaking to the success of the health center program nationwide over the last 40 years and the role that health centers can play in providing access to health care for all Americans in the future.
Community clinics are local, non-profit, community-owned health care providers that are often under-recognized for our increasingly vital in providing a vital safety services in the county’s health delivery system. Community clinics bring physicians, needed primary care, and preventive health services to medically under served people and growing numbers of lower income people without health insurance. Community health center patients include low-income working families, the uninsured, and many high-risk and vulnerable patients including the homeless, migrant and seasonal farm workers, the frail elderly, and poor women and children.
The community health centers in Sonoma County include:
Important facts about community health centers
Collectively, community clinics make a significant contribution to Sonoma County's quality of life and economic health. Here are some salient facts about community health centers:
- Health center Medicaid patients are 19% less likely to use the emergency room and 11% less likely to be hospitalized for potentially avoidable conditions.
- Uninsured people who live near a health center are less likely to have an unmet medical need, less likely to postpone or delay health care, and less likely to visit an emergency room or stay in a hospital compared to other uninsured.
- Health centers could save tax payers up to $8 billion annually by keeping people healthy and out of hospital emergency rooms.
- High levels of patient satisfaction: 99% of health center patients are satisfied with the care they receive.
- Health center prenatal care patients have lower rates of low birth weight than women nationally. Communities served by a health center have infant mortality rates up to 40% lower than communities without a health center.
- Uninsured health center patients are more likely to have a usual source of care and see a doctor more frequently than other uninsured patients.
- Women who use health centers are more likely to have Pap tests, mammograms, and clinical breast exams than other low-income and minority women in the population.
- Health centers meet or exceed nationally accepted practice standards for treatment of chronic conditions. Health centers are models for screening, diagnosing, and managing chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, depression, cancer, and HIV. Health centers’ efforts have lead to improved health outcomes for their patients, as well as lowered the cost of treating patients with chronic illness.
(Source: National Association of Community Health Centers)
|
|
