Health Partnership Clinic Celebrates National Health Center Week 2019

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National Health Center Week 2019Health Partnership Clinic will host a variety of free activities to mark National Health Center Week 2019 from August 4-10 and celebrate the ways we are “Rooted in Communities” we serve. The activities are part of a national campaign to increase awareness of the ways health centers are providing affordable health care in communities.

“We’re excited to share our story as well as salute our public servants, patients, employees, volunteers, consumer board members and others for their role in making our community healthier and safer,” says Catherine Rice, Vice President of Marketing and Outreach. “This year, our events range from a Patient Appreciation Day (Monday, Aug. 5), where refreshments will be distributed and patients can register for a door prize drawing, to a Community Open House (Friday, Aug. 9) honoring Johnson County’s Public Servants, supporters and community leaders. Members of Congress and state officials, Fire/Police, donors and civic leaders are invited. The public is also welcomed to attend.”

Rice notes, “The Open House will wrap up our week of celebration.” The event runs from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Olathe clinic, 407 S. Clairborne Rd., Olathe, Kan. Health Partnership’s new senior leaders and providers will be available to meet and greet. There will also be tours and refreshments, compliments of Aetna.

Each day HPC’s activities will be dedicated to a particular focus area.

Click here to download the schedule of activities (PDF)

Health Partnership is part of a nationwide network of locally-run health centers that serve more than 28 million people nationwide. They are on the front lines of national public health challenges – whether caring for veterans, providing opioid treatment, or responding to natural disasters. They are also a lifeline in remote and under served communities where the nearest doctor or hospital can be as far as 50 miles or more away. Nearly half of health centers (44 percent) are in rural communities.

Highlights of health center accomplishments include:

  • Reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the emergency room;
  • Treating patients for a fraction of the average cost of one emergency room visit;
  • Serving more than one in six Medicaid beneficiaries for less than two percent of the national Medicaid budget;
  • Lowering the cost of children’s primary care by approximately 35 percent;
  • Treating 65,000 patients with Medication Assisted Therapy for opioid use disorder in 2017; and,
  • Serving over 355,000 veterans throughout the country.

“This year’s NHCW 2019 will highlight how health centers are at the forefront of a nationwide shift in addressing environmental and social factors as an integral part of primary care, reaching beyond the walls of conventional medicine to address the factors that may cause sickness, such as lack of nutrition, mental illness, homelessness and substance use disorders,” Rice adds.

Community Health Centers’ success in managing chronic disease in medically vulnerable communities has helped reduce health care costs for American taxpayers.