[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 105 (Monday, July 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          RECOGNITION OF NATIONAL COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER WEEK

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                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 26, 2002

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, August 18th will mark the 
kick-off of National Community Health Center (CHC) Week--a time to 
raise awareness about and pay tribute to the vital services that our 
community health centers provide to our communities.
  Community health centers are local, non-profit health care providers 
that serve our poorest and our medically underserved rural and urban 
communities. Often they are the sole source of care for these 
Americans.
  Last year, our community health centers served almost 12 million 
people in over 3,000 communities nationwide. Almost 5 million were 
uninsured; 650,000 were migrant and seasonal farmworkers; 5.4 million 
lived in rural areas; and almost 8 million were people of color. 
California's community health centers provided service to 15 percent of 
that population--almost 1.8 million people.
  In California's First District, over 100,000 people sought the 
services of our 18 community health centers on over 300,000 separate 
occasions. These CHCs play an especially vital role in the rural areas 
of my district, given the financial and geographic constraints of these 
populations. Approximately 20 percent of the people served by our CHCs 
are farmworkers and over 80 percent are either uninsured or on 
Medicaid. Over 65 percent earn less than the federal poverty level each 
year. Were it not for the critical services our CHCs provide, many 
Northern Californians would have gone to the emergency room or they 
would have gone without any care altogether.
  In this way, CHCs are a cost-saver for our health care system--by 
providing a significantly cheaper alternative to emergency room care 
for basic treatment--and they improve overall community health. They 
deliver care to those that would otherwise go without and they target 
that delivery to their service population. This means that patients 
receive care when they need it, where they need it and in a way that 
makes them comfortable and that they understand.
  To accommodate different schedules, centers offer daytime, weekend 
and after-hours care. To accommodate language barriers--in some areas 
of my district Latino patient loads are as high as 62 percent--most 
centers offer services in both Spanish and English. And, to accommodate 
those who cannot travel to receive services, many centers operate 
mobile units. These ``clinics-on-wheels'' travel to our schools, 
migrant camps, community centers and homeless centers.
  CHCs provide a truly comprehensive range of care, with basic services 
including adult and pediatric primary care, obstetrical and 
gynecological care, immunizations, medical case management, nutrition 
and dietary instruction and mental health counseling. In addition, some 
clinics are also able to offer dental care, tobacco cessation programs 
and HIV care. Outreach and education campaigns are an integral 
component of their service delivery and all community health centers 
help those who are eligible to enroll in California's Medicaid and CHIP 
programs.
  I thank the community health centers of Del Norte, Humboldt, 
Mendocino, Lake, Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties for their dedication 
to the health and welfare of the residents of the First District of 
California. As we move towards National Community Health Center week, I 
urge my colleagues to help raise awareness of the important services 
that their local CHCs provide. Undoubtedly, many more Americans would 
lack access to care were it not for the commitment of our nation's 
community health centers to the service of the poor and medically 
needy.

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