Crusader Celebrations Nation Health Center Week

CELEBRATING NATIONAL HEALTH CENTER WEEK

This week legislative leaders at the local, state and national level will join communities in celebration of National Health Center Week 2017. Their messages and visits to health centers will demonstrate that it is possible to move beyond the partisan divide over health care and to support and agree on a time honored effective program that is vital to our communities and the nation’s public health.

Crusader Community Health is part of a national network that provides primary care to 25 million individuals via 1,200 locally run, independent Community Health Centers at 7,000 sites. The program started over 50 years ago as a bold grassroots demonstration program to provide health care in medically underserved areas. Over the course of their existence, Community Health Centers have been on the front lines addressing the interplay of health care with poverty, jobs, homelessness, behavioral health and community safety, while anchoring their communities.

Community Health Centers are one of the bright spots in America’s health care system. They have saved countless lives, prevented and reduced illness and disease in the most challenged patients by providing an accessible, affordable, high quality and personalized primary care option for all.

Community Health Centers have compiled a significant record of success that includes:

·        Producing approximately $24 billion in annual health system savings

·        Reducing unnecessary (and expensive) visits to the emergency room and unnecessary hospitalizations

·        Maintaining exceptionally high patient satisfaction scores

·        A well documented track record of clinical excellence

·        Serving more than one in six Medicaid beneficiaries for less than two percent of the national Medicaid budget.

Community Health Centers reach beyond the walls of conventional medicine. It is not sufficient to describe health centers as just another health care program. They are more than that. They are problem solvers that look beyond the medical chart. At Crusader we have a saying, “First put an arm around the patient before you put an arm around their problem”. This unique and meaningful perspective is “The Crusader Way”, as exemplified by “The Five C’s of character, competence, team chemistry, caring and understanding that Crusader is a tremendous community asset.

Crusader has been the area’s homegrown (and grownup, modernized and efficient) Community Health Center for 45 years. Twenty-eight thousand adults and twenty- three thousand children proudly call Crusader Community Health their Primary Care Provider!

We are pleased to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle to improve the availability of quality primary care and preventive services to everyone who needs it. Good health begins with access to primary care. Access to Community Health Centers is a prescription for the good health of our nation. Thank you!

Gordon Eggers, President & CEO
Crusader Community Health