The Chronicles Beat Archive 2012-2016.

  • Out in the Rural: A Mississippi Health Center and Its War on Poverty December 16, 2016 In Out in the Rural: A Mississippi Health Center and Its War on Poverty, historian Dr. Thomas J. Ward Jr., professor and chair of the History Department at Spring Hill College (Mobile, Alabama) explores the origins of the community health center movement through the story of the Tufts-Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
  • CHCs respond to Zika Crisis In Puerto Rico October 2, 2016 In August 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico a public health emergency.  There is much that experts don’t yet understand about Zika, but scientists do know that it is transmitted primarily through the bite of infected mosquitoes and can also be sexually transmitted. 
  • Bee Busy Wellness Center: Empowering Patients to be Active Partners in Their Care August 1, 2016 How do you improve health outcomes in a complex, diverse city with a high-need population? One approach is found at Bee Busy Wellness Center, a community health center located in Southwest Houston, whose unorthodox birth was spurred by the unmet needs of an underserved community.
  • Confronting Infant Mortality in Erie County, Ohio June 28, 2016 National studies rank birth defects, preterm births, low birth weight, maternal pregnancy complications, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and injuries such as suffocation as the leading causes of infant mortality. Erie County Community Health Center, part of the County Health Department, is working to confront this epidemic head on.
  • Tackling the Health Consequences of Homelessness, One Patient at a Time August 12, 2015 Each year during National Health Center Week (NHCW) we celebrate the contributions of community health centers nationally in providing affordable, accessible, and effective high-quality care services. Care for Homeless, a community health center serving homeless New Yorkers, is one of several NYC CHCs at the forefront of offering healthcare and social services. 
  • “Who’s Counting on You to Stay Healthy” – Comprehensive Insurance Outreach and Enrollment in Maine January 26, 2015 Maine Primary Care Association (MPCA) and 18 member health centers have collaborated  to develop a comprehensive strategy focused on enrolling uninsured Maine residents in the ACA healthcare exchanges and MaineCare. 
  • Closing the Coverage Gap – On the Ground in Texas November 5, 2014 While an estimated 1.85 million uninsured adult Texans would have been eligible for Medicaid under the ACA, the state has opted not to expand Medicaid, leaving an estimated 1.7 million without coverage.
  • ACA Outreach and enrollment in the Mississippi Delta – Increasing Access in a Non Medicaid Expansion State July 2, 2014 By Nicole Rodriguez-Robbins
    Mississippi, a place with perhaps the greatest need for more investment in health care, is one of 24 states that are not expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. To provide some context, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion intended to raise the income eligibility ceiling to 138% of the …
  • Phase One of ACA Implementation: RCHN-CHF Grantees Enroll Thousands June 11, 2014 A new Outreach & Enrollment Initiative supports projects at Primary Care Associations and community health centers in five states. In the three month period between January 1st and March 31st of this year, RCHN CHF grantees have helped over 5,100 people enroll in health insurance plans.
  • A Peoples Movement: Massachusetts Community Health Centers’ Historic Fight for Access March 7, 2014 Not too long ago, Nicole Rodriguez-Robbins  traveled up to Massachusetts to get a glimpse  of the continued evolution of CHCs.  Here’s her in-depth visit report with reflections on  the history of health center activism in Boston and environs and prospects for the future.
  • A Subway Tour and a Glimpse at Two CHCs in New York City November 6, 2013 RCHN CHF project coordinator Nicole Rodriguez-Robbins loaded up her Metrocard and visited the Urban Health Plan  (Bronx, New York) and William F. Ryan Community Health Network (Manhattan) to see their new facilities and state-of-the art programs.
  • Advocating Healthcare Equity for LGBT Patients Through Compassionate and Culturally Competent Care May 29, 2013 A new blog post discusses caring for transgender and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)  patient populations, an especially  under recognized and underserved population, and the trailblazing work of Transgender Program at Community Healthcare Network (Bronx, NY).
  • Cutting-Edge Technology and Good, Old Fashioned Caring in Rural Upstate New York March 6, 2013 Finger Lakes Community Health serves over 17,000 patients in upstate NY. Established in 1989 as a Migrant Health Clinic, they became designated as a federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in 2009 and have experienced tremendous growth as an organization in a few short years.
  • Mentoring the Next Generation of Community Health Leaders at Charles B. Wang Community Health Center October 8, 2012 For over 40 years, the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center (CBWCHC) has provided high quality, culturally sensitive and affordable care to the Asian-American community in New York City. The health center was started by community members who identified a large disparity in access to medical care among the Asian immigrant population in NYC and …
  • Tackling Access Barriers, In Three Languages October 1, 2012 Monmouth Family Medical Center (MFMC) in Long Branch, NJ, serves a diverse community of English, Spanish and Portuguese speakers and with the support of multi-lingual staff and providers, helps patients get the care and services they need.
  • Empathy in Practice September 21, 2012 One of my favorite parts of the recent NACHC Community Health Institute (CHI) in Orlando was actress Anna Deavere Smith’s opening session performance from her work “Let Me Down Easy,” a series of monologues based on interviews with people about their experiences with the health care system.
  • Patient Advocates – Opening Doors to Health Care August 21, 2012 This past June, I had the privilege of visiting Open Door Family Medical Center in Ossining NY and meeting the center’s dedicated staff. Located a short ride away from Manhattan, off the Hudson River, Open Door feels far removed from the big city.
  • Community Health Centers Continue to Innovate: Creating Jobs While Improving Efficiency June 22, 2012 The Department of Health and Human Services announced last week 81 new “Health Care Innovation Awards” to healthcare organizations throughout the nation, including several to community health centers.
  • Honoring the Migrant Health Program and the Workers it Serves June 21, 2012 This past month I attended the National Farmworker Health Conference in Denver, Colorado. This year’s conference marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Migrant Health Act and honored the historic first comprehensive efforts to provide health services to the migrant farm worker population in the U.S.