Recognizing The 50th Anniversary Of The Nation's First Community Health Center

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding landmark to community health and welfare. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the nation's Community Health Center program Community Health Centers (CHC) are the family doctor to over 23 million Americans and, as such, are the largest network of primary care providers in the country. The CHC model is distinguished by its comprehensive range of health services, recognizing the particular needs and characteristics of the communities they serve. Community Health Centers are located exclusively in medically-underserved areas, providing needed care for communities and populations that do not have adequate access to care. Community involvement in CHCs is guaranteed by the requirement that Federal Qualified Health Centers must have governing boards of directors that have patients of the center holding at least 51% of the board seats.

In the 8th Congressional District of Massachusetts we are particularly proud because the nation's first community health center opened in December 1965 on Columbia Point in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. Drs. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson of Tufts Medical School founded the Columbia Point Health Center in order to meet the needs of the residents of an isolated public housing project, cut off from the City's health resources. Drs. Geiger and Gibson opened a rural center shortly thereafter in the Delta region of Mississippi. From that start, the community health center program expanded throughout the country. In 1985, Columbia Point Health Center joined with the Neponset Health Center to form Harbor Health Services, Inc. And in 1990, the Columbia Point Health Center moved into a new building and was renamed Geiger Gibson Community Health Center in honor of the founders of the national movement.

Mr. Speaker, there are now over 1,270 community health centers providing services at 9,000 sites across the country. CHCs have become the primary source of medical, dental, behavioral health, substance abuse treatment, social services and other community health services for neighborhoods and rural communities that would otherwise be inadequately served. And CHCs have also provided employment and career opportunities for thousands of local residents.

Mr. Speaker, fifty years ago it all began in Dorchester, Massachusetts. I am proud to rise today to recognize and honor what has become a national model for providing services to our country's underserved areas and urge my colleagues to join me in acknowledging the efforts of our Community Health Centers.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source