Lincoln Community Health Center (LCHC) will celebrate its patients and staff to mark National Health Center Week 2019 Aug. 4-10.
LCHC will also be presenting at the Lincoln County Board of Commissioner’s meeting on Aug. 7. LCHC provides a variety of health services in Lincoln City, Newport and at four school-based health centers.
The events are part of a national campaign to increase awareness of the ways health centers are providing affordable health care in communities.
A host of NHCW events that celebrate the ways that health centers are “Rooted in Communities” are scheduled across the country, including health fairs, visits by Members of Congress and state officials to local health centers, news conferences, back-to-school drives, community breakfasts, patient appreciation events, free health screenings and much more.
LCHC is part of a nationwide network of locally-run health centers that serve more than 28 million people nationwide. They have physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and behavioral health specialists who provide a full spectrum of medical care.
Community Health Centers are on the front lines of national public health challenges – whether caring for veterans, providing opioid treatment, or responding to natural disasters. They are also a lifeline in remote and under-served communities where the nearest doctor or hospital can be as far as 50 miles or more away. Nearly half of health centers (44 percent) are located in rural communities.
Highlights of health center accomplishments include:
- Reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the emergency room;
- Total cost of care per patient with Medicare is up to 30% lower for patients choosing to use health centers;
- Treating patients for a fraction of the average cost of one emergency room visit;
- Serving more than one in six Medicaid beneficiaries for less than two percent of the national Medicaid budget;
- Full-spectrum care for over 8 million children in the U.S;
- Lowering the cost of children’s primary care by approximately 35 percent; and
- Serving over 355,000 veterans throughout the country.
This year’s NHCW 2019 will highlight how health centers are at the forefront of a nationwide shift in addressing environmental and social factors as an integral part of primary care, reaching beyond the walls of conventional medicine to address the factors that may cause sickness, such as lack of nutrition, mental illness, homelessness and substance use disorders.
Community Health Centers’ success in managing chronic disease in medically vulnerable communities has helped reduce health care costs for American taxpayers.
Each day of NHCW 2019 is dedicated to a particular focus area. To learn more and view a listing of events please visit www.healthcenterweek.org.
