COVID-19 has cut a destructive path across along racial lines. African Americans and Latinos are bearing the brunt of this virus with higher rates of infections. Few understand this better than the people who work at Community Health Centers. Health centers care for nearly 30 million people, and many of them are essential workers in …
Category: Health Center News
A Health Center Fights Two Pandemics
Even before COVID-19 arrived on America’s doorstep we were battling another health crisis — opioid use disorder. Nearly 90 percent of Community Health Centers offered behavioral health services onsite, including opioid treatment services before the massive pivot to address the pandemic began. And the grim news is that COVID may have worsened the problem of …
COVID-19 Is Not Going Away
The consensus building among health experts is that we’re going to be in pandemic mode for the foreseeable future. On Capitol Hill, top disease expert and White House advisor Anthony Fauci today told lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that daily new cases could surpass 100,000 new infections per day if …
Workforce Wellness and Building Community
By Grace Wang, MD, MPH My calendar tells me that its day 100 of a journey on a road that doesn’t appear on any map. Sometimes I think I see a familiar landmark but upon closer scrutiny, I find that the familiar has changed to something that is unrecognizable. The first 100 days is often used …
We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends
Community Health Centers are a proven model of resilience in public health crises. They have battled H1N1, HIV-AIDS and even man-made disasters like the opioid addiction crisis. COVID-19 has been a challenge like no other. Early on in the global pandemic health centers were fighting the spread of the deadly virus with a dwindling arsenal …
Notes from the Hot Zone: Health Centers Launch Testing Sites at Food Processing Plants
Here’s what’s remarkable: 60 percent of Community Health Centers nationwide have drive-through or walk-up testing for COVID-19, according to a new NACHC infographic. This massive pivot to address an unprecedented pandemic has happened in a matter of weeks, a testament to the nimble powers and innovation of health centers. They can sense a need and …
What COVID-19 Has Laid Bare
Ravi Kavasery, MD, is the Medical Director of Quality and Population Health, AltaMed Health Services, Los Angeles, CA, Associate Faculty, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Recently in the midst of closing out patient charts after a busy day in the medical clinic, I received a call …
Look For The Helpers
When the world feels like a different place, and there are scary headlines in the news, Mister Rogers urged us to “look for the helpers.” You don’t need to search very hard to find them at Community Health Centers. They are the providers at the drive-thru testing sites in parking lots; the Community Health Workers …
“Resilience Comes with Purpose”A Health Center Doctor Recovers from COVID-19
As a Family Physician, I knew that at some point I would become infected with COVID-19. For me, it was never a question of if I’d get sick, rather how soon and how sick I would get. Of course, there was also the added fear of bringing this home and infecting my husband; I’d worry …
Taking Care of Each Other in This Time of Crisis
This guest blog post is by Kimberly Becher, M.D. Dr. Becher practices at Community Care of West Virginia, Inc., a rural federally qualified health center in Clay County, W.Va. , This article was originally posted in the AAFP’s Fresh Perspectives blog”. You know that feeling When a huge storm is coming? If you live on …