On July 1, a new academic year unlike any other began for medical residents throughout the nation. However, one of the positive stories to emerge from the current COVID-19 pandemic has been the role medical residents at the nation’s 56 Teaching Health Centers (THCs) like ours here in Redding played to combat the coronavirus, including …
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Health Center CEO Testifies Before Senate Committee, Addresses Racial Disparities
Racial health disparities were under the spotlight this week on Capitol Hill. Rodney B. Jones, Sr., CEO of East Liberty Health Center in Pittsburgh, PA, was among the witnesses who provided virtual testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Aging in a hearing that focused on COVID-19’s impact on racial health disparities. Jones gave a …
A Post from the Frontlines of COVID in Michigan
Sometimes the stories of heroism on the frontlines come at us so fast there’s not enough time to share them. This one from Cherry Health in Michigan caught our eye because it demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic has radically affected normal routines in health care. Meet Maria Vizcarra, a patient registration specialist at the health …
New Medicaid COVID-Related FAQs
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated its Medicaid COVID-19-related FAQs, which were published back in March. Because the latest version of the FAQs is quite lengthy (over 100 pages), we have highlighted some of the new FAQs as well as some older FAQs that may be of interest to Primary Care Associations …
How Far We Have Dreamed
Our focus during the month of June has been to retrace the 50 year history of Community Health Centers through the lens of an individual health center. That is what brought us to Neighborhood Healthcare, an award-winning health center in southern California that is marking its 46th year of providing quality care. How did it …
Where We Began and How Far We Have Come
To measure how far we have come we first have to look at where Community Health Centers started 50 years ago. It began with a cause, and then an opportunity. The cause was lack of access to basic healthcare among the poor, and the opportunity was President Lyndon B. Johnson’s major War on Poverty initiatives in the mid 1960s. Doctors Jack Geiger …
In Bridgeport a Humble Start with a Big Finish
In Connecticut nearly 40 years ago Optimus Health Care, Inc. (formally known as Bridgeport Community Health Center) was founded by a group of civic-minded individuals committed to the goal of starting a healthcare home in their neighborhood. It was not going to be easy. The site was located in an apartment house where pigeons were roosting in …
All Things Healthcare Update
We plan to continue blog postings about the 50th Anniversary for June focusing on the theme of “How Far We Have Come.” We will be looking at health centers that have made a long journey from humble beginnings, such as church basements, neighborhood storefronts or small trailers, into now dynamic health delivery systems showcasing what is possible in community health. Telling …
Connecting Veterans with Health Center Jobs
Community Health Centers serve more than 260,000 of America’s Veterans. Yet, did you know that they are also engaged as part of a joint initiative launched by the White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to hire more Veterans, and to help returning servicemen and women transition into civilian life? Health centers …
Stage 4, How Did We End Up Here?
This blog was originally published in the Huffington Post as part of a series of posts raising awareness of National Women’s Health Week. My mother, the certified nursing assistant (CNA), has stage four breast cancer. She has tumors in her breast, on her hip and on her skull. The tumor on her hip is what bothers …