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Honoring Open Cities Health Center

Date: Feb. 28, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health and Health Care


HONORING OPEN CITIES HEALTH CENTER -- (Extensions of Remarks - February 28, 2006)
SPEECH OF HON. BETTY McCOLLUM OF MINNESOTA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2006

* Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the ground-breaking work of the Open Cities Health Center. In a fitting celebration of African American History Month, Ms. Mary Stokes and Mrs. Timothy O. Vann will be remembered and celebrated at an awards ceremony on February 24, 2006. These two pioneering African-American women founded the center, providing the vision to provide culturally competent health care--a vision that has grown into a vital resource in the Twin Cities community for nearly four decades.

* The Open Cities Health Center has become one of the largest nonprofit community health centers in the Twin Cities. The center was one of the first in the State of Minnesota to focus on providing health care to low-income residents, predominantly people of color. A group of Saint Paul residents began the center in a church basement in Saint Paul's Rondo neighborhood in 1967. Stokes and Vann addressed the health needs of our most at-risk citizens when no one else would. The all-volunteer clinic started out by providing immunizations and basic health education to African-Americans.

* Today, due in part to Federal and local government grants over the years, the center has greatly expanded its outreach and become a well-known, multi-lingual clinic that continues to serve the African-American community as well as members of the East African, Southeast Asian, and Caucasian communities. The center provides a wide array of important physical, mental health, and dental services to residents from all over the Twin Cities.

* Mr. Speaker, please join me in paying tribute to the vital work of the Open Cities Health Center. We must all work together to increase access to screenings and preventive care treatment for all Americans. I commend the Open Cities Health Center for working to eliminate the damaging health disparities that continue to exist among racial and ethnic groups.

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