National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)

2010 Haiti Earthquake -
http://blogs.nachc.com/emergency/?p=105

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Spread across 50 states and all U.S. territories, there are 1,250 Community Health Centers that provide vital primary care to 20 million Americans with limited financial resources.

Directed by boards with majority consumer membership, health centers focus on meeting the basic health care needs of their individual communities. Health centers maintain an open-door policy, providing treatment regardless of an individual’s income or insurance coverage.

Health centers serve the homeless, residents of public housing, migrant farm workers and others with emergent and chronic health care needs, but limited resources to secure treatment through traditional channels.

Health centers provide substantial benefits to their communities:

•They serve 20% of low-income, uninsured people.
•70% of their patients live in poverty.
•They provide comprehensive care, including physical, mental and dental care.
•They save the national health care system between $9.9 billion and $17.6 billion a year by helping patients avoid emergency rooms and making better use of preventive services

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What You Can Do
http://www.nachc.com/health-centers-what-you-can-do.cfm

Because millions of people receive or provide care through health centers, the community of potential advocates is huge – and growing larger all the time.

But life’s other demands can easily get in the way of taking an active role on behalf of health centers. That would be a mistake.

Get involved. Here's how:

•Volunteer at a health center, to learn the issues first hand and make a direct difference.
•Work with a health center to engage public policymakers in supporting legislation that benefits health centers and their patients.
•Link health centers with primary care associations and educational institutions, to ensure adequate training for health center staff and future health care workers.
•Dedicate the resources of your group or philanthropic effort to the support of health centers.
•Reduce the demand for health care services by promoting health education, better diets, exercise and public recreation programs.

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source at:
http://www.nachc.com/findahealthcenter.cfm

Find a Health Center

If you need affordable health care, a Community Health Center may be what you're looking for.

Community Health Centers -- also known as Federally Qualified Health Centers, or FQHCs -- provide care regardless of your insurance status or ability to pay. There are more than 1,200 health center organizations with more than 8,000 locations in urban, suburban and rural communities across the country. They can be found in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

All health centers offer comprehensive primary and preventive health care. Many also offer dental, mental health and pharmacy services.

Click here to find the health center closest to your address or to see a list of health centers in your state or county/parish.
http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/

The National Association of Community Health Centers represents is a nonprofit organization that represents health centers -- providing advocacy, education, training, and technical assistance to health centers in support of their mission to provide quality health care to underserved populations. You can learn more about health centers here at NACHC.com.

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EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT -
http://www.nachc.com/hc-emergency-management.cfm

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FACEBOOK Community Health Centers -
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Community-Health-Centers/50110271890

FACEBOOK NACHC -
http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Association-of-Community-Health-Centers/42026939857

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BLOGS -
http://blogs.nachc.com/