[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 6, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S1419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING THE 11TH STREET FAMILY HEALTH SERVICES CENTER

 Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, on January 17, 2012, I visited to 
the 11th Street Family Health Services Center of Drexel University. The 
Center is located in north Philadelphia, PA, and provides outpatient 
health care services to one of the most underserved communities in the 
city. As we work to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, 
affordable health care, the 11th Street Family Health Services Center 
serves as a model that is both innovative and effective, and I wish to 
highlight its efforts today.
  The Center was born out of a partnership between the College of 
Nursing at MCP/Hahnemann University, now Drexel University's College of 
Nursing and Health Professions, and the Philadelphia Housing Authority 
to address the community's health concerns. It began as a Center 
focused on health promotion and disease prevention, but thanks to the 
tireless work of community leaders and Dr. Patty Gerrity, it quickly 
evolved into a comprehensive, nurse-managed, federally qualified health 
center.
  In 1998, the center received a Health Resources and Services 
Administration grant for over $3 million, which it used to build a 
state-of-the-art health center that was opened in 2002. That facility 
and the nurses that manage it now provide primary care, behavioral 
health, dental health and health and wellness programs to more than 
2,500 adult patients annually. In fact, in 2011, the Center provided 
30,000 patient visits to a section of Philadelphia that has the highest 
percentage of unemployed adults, the highest percentage of families 
living in poverty and the highest rate of diabetes in Philadelphia.
  Not only does the Center serve as a creative model to address chronic 
health issues in underserved communities, it also serves as a great 
educational tool. As operated by the Drexel University College of 
Nursing and Health Professions, the Center encourages employment in the 
health care field and provides nursing students with the opportunity to 
learn, first-hand, the skills needed to work in today's health care 
industry.
  As we move forward with the ongoing fight to ensure that quality and 
affordable care is accessible to all Americans, I strongly recommend 
that we learn from and seek to emulate innovative models like the 11th 
Street Family Health Services Center. It effectively serves our most 
vulnerable citizens, improves their general health and in doing so 
reduces the burden on our larger hospitals while decreasing medical 
costs in the long-term.

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