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August 1, 2005 Community Health Centers: Bringing Health Home UKIAH - August 7-13 is National Health Center Week. This short article examines the beginnings of the health center movement. If you’re over 50 years old, you will probably never forget “Freedom Summer.” It occurred in the heat of 1964, when tensions about racial injustice finally reached the boiling point. It was a fiery time in America’s history, and it marked a new national commitment to the value of equality promised in our Constitution. As civil rights workers roamed the South working on voter registration projects, they had begun to see extreme poverty on an unimaginable scale—whole communities without a fresh water supply, without sewer systems, without food and without hope. One outcome of trying to find new ways to meet these dire needs was the revolutionary idea to bring health services into the communities where they were needed. As part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, the establishment of health centers became a tool to bring communities together to focus on health and positive change. Community health centers engendered hope where there had been none. The implementation of this bold social experiment was vigorously fought by state governments, state medical societies and public health departments. However, the federal government persisted, and thus firmly established a national commitment to the health of the individuals who make up our nation.Through many national administrations since, the number of people who have access to primary and preventive healthcare services through the clinic system of care has reached to over 13 million people. In Ukiah, Hillside Health Center provides this fundamental safety net of service for the un- and under-insured. It is operated by Mendocino Community Health Clinic, Inc., a local nonprofit healthcare corporation. President George W. Bush has made expanding the national commitment to community-based care a cornerstone of his second administration. According to Dan Hawkins, Vice President for Policy at National Association of Community Health Centers, “President Bush understands that investing in health centers is a giant step toward making health care affordable and accessible to all. His leadership has already led to the largest expansion in our program’s history….”Health centers have evolved through the years into a dynamic and expanding network. By serving their mission, they continue to ensure that our citizens, regardless of their circumstances in life, have access to primary health and preventive care services—and that is healthy for the whole community. If you are interested in serving on the Mendocino Community Health Clinic Board of Directors, please contact the Assistant to the President, Kathy Keyser by calling 472-4511.### Back to News and Announcements |
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