[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 97 (Wednesday, July 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1364]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING SENSE OF THE HOUSE ON ESTABLISHING NATIONAL COMMUNITY HEALTH 
                              CENTER WEEK

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                               speech of

                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 12, 2004

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 646, a resolution 
expressing the sense of the House that the Congress should establish a 
National Community Health Centers week. I want to commend my good 
friend and colleague from Chicago, Congressman Danny Davis, for 
introducing this resolution, to recognize the vitally important work 
that community health centers do in both urban and rural areas in this 
nation.
  Community, migrant, and homeless health centers play an absolutely 
critical role in providing quality health care services to the poor and 
uninsured citizens in this nation. In Illinois generally, and Chicago, 
especially, these centers provide the only access that some of our 
citizens have to health care. The providers in these facilities are in 
the trenches each and every day and our constituents are served well by 
their dedication and devotion.
  Mr. Speaker, it is fitting that I take a moment while we are debating 
this issue to commemorate the life of one of the leaders in community 
health care in the state of Illinois.
  Mr. C. Michael Savage, 51, the Chief Executive Officer of the Access 
Community Health Network was killed white water rafting in Alaska while 
attending a conference on June 24, 2004: all in the Chicago community 
are mourning his loss.
  Mike's dedication, drive and devotion were responsible for turning 
around Access Community Health Network and making it the largest 
community health provider in the country. Access is based in Chicago 
and provides health services to the residents of the First 
Congressional District and the metropolitan Chicago area. But Mike's 
work and his impact with Access has been felt all over the country. The 
Access network is a model for other community health centers around the 
nation, and much of that reality is because of Mike's unwavering 
commitment to the challenge of improving health care delivery in this 
nation.
  When I introduced legislation earlier this year designed to make 
affordable prescription drugs available to low income residents of the 
First Congressional District, Mike was there. When I created a 
community-based task force to examine the health care challenges my 
constituents face everyday, Mike was there. When providers come to 
Washington every year to urge the Congress to increase funding for 
community-based health centers, Mike was always there.
  Mr. Speaker, on June 24, 2004, not only did Illinois lose a caring, 
dedicated and supremely empathetic health care provider whose 
compassion for the poor was unparalled, but so did the nation. He will 
be sorely missed.

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