Case says federal grants totaling $1.3 million will help provide health care to more low-income, uninsured patients on Oahu's North Shore and the Big
Case says federal grants totaling $1.3 million will help provide health care to more low-income, uninsured patients on Oahu's North Shore and the Big Island's West Hawaii
April 12, 2005
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Ed Case today said two community health centers in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island and Kahuku, Oahu are receiving a big boost from $1.3 million in federal grants that will help the centers to serve low-income and uninsured patients in Hawaii.
"The future of expanded health care, particularly in the rural communities of my Second Congressional District, lies in the services offered by community health centers such as the West Hawaii Community Health Center in Kailua-Kona and Koolauloa Community Health and Wellness Center in Kahuku which will each receive $650,000 grants on or about December 1, 2005 as Fiscal Year 2006 funds become available," said Case.
Case last year began lobbying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support the community health centers in Kailua-Kona and Kahuku. "We all know that community health centers improve the health of our nation by providing comprehensive primary and preventive healthcare services to underserved populations, regardless of ability to pay. I believe that our community health centers play an even larger role in our rural communities where options and access are severely limited," said Case in an April 20, 2004 letter to Dr. Sam Shekar, Assistant Surgeon General and Associate Administrator of the Bureau of Primary Health Care in HHS.
"For Hawaii Island, efforts to obtain this grant have come to fruition and will complete a circle of primary and preventive health care on Hawaii Island which has received past support from the Bureau of Primary Health Care for Bay Clinic in Hilo and the Hamakua Comprehensive Health Center. Supporting a community health center for the underserved and geographically disadvantaged population in West Hawaii is a necessary investment for the well-being of a rapidly growing area." Case wrote the federal government in support of the West Hawaii CHC grant application.
"The North Shore of Oahu is another rural area that needs greater access to comprehensive primary health care services, and the grant going to the Koolauloa Community Health and Wellness Center will help to address this growing need on Oahu's North Shore."
Community health centers provide preventive and primary care services and base their charges to patients according to income. HHS says almost 40 percent of the patients treated at health centers have no insurance coverage, and others have no insurance coverage, and others have inadequate coverage.
http://wwwc.house.gov/case/press_releases/2005/2005-18.html