Title
Proclamation: “Community Health Center Week”
Body
2005-0222
P R O C L A M A T I O N
WHEREAS, the St. Charles Community Health Center is a nonprofit community owned and operated health provider that is vital to meeting the health care needs of the residents of our Parish; and,
WHEREAS, the St. Charles Community Health Center has served and is a primary health care home to more than 10,000 individuals in addition to serving as the public health unit; and,
WHEREAS, the St. Charles Community Health Center provides cost-effective, high quality health care to the Parish's poor and medically underserved (including the working poor, the uninsured, and many high-risk and vulnerable populations), acting as a vital safety net in the Parish's health delivery system; and,
WHEREAS, health centers like the St. Charles Community Health Center provide care to 1 of every 3 uninsured individuals and 1 of every 3 Medicaid beneficiaries, all of whom would otherwise lack access to health care; and,
WHEREAS, health centers make health care responsive and cost-effective by integrating the delivery of primary care with aggressive outreach, patient education, and enabling support services; and,
WHEREAS, health centers increase the use of preventive health services such as immunizations, pap smears, mammograms, and glaucoma screenings; and,
WHEREAS, in communities served by health centers, infant mortality rates have been reduced even as infant mortality rates across the country have risen; and,
WHEREAS, health centers are built by community initiative, and run by the patients they serve with Federal Grants providing seed money empowering communities to find partners and resources to recruit doctors and needed health professionals; and,
WHEREAS, Federal Grants on average contribute 25 percent of a health center's budget, with the remainder provided by State and Local Governments, Medicare, Medicaid, private contributions, private insurance, and patient fees; and,
WHE...
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