ODHS to Celebrate National Health Center Week
August 3, 2016 - Muncie, IN – Open Door Health Services is excited to be celebrating National Health Center Week. The national campaign runs August 7-13th with the goal of raising awareness about the mission and accomplishments of America’s Health Centers over the course of more than five decades.
One of the bright spots in America’s healthcare system, health centers started over 50 years ago as a pilot project during President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Today, they have compiled a significant record of success that includes:
Producing $24 billion in annual health system savings
Reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the emergency room
Treating patients for a fraction of the average cost of one emergency room visit
Maintaining patient satisfaction levels of nearly 100 percent
Generating $26.5 billion in economic activity and over 230,000 jobs
Reducing infant mortality rates
Health centers not only prevent illness and foster wellness in the most challenging populations, they produce innovative solutions to the most pressing healthcare issues in their communities. They reach beyond the walls of conventional medicine to address the factors that may cause sickness, such as lack of nutrition, mental illness, homelessness and addiction. Because of their long record of success in innovation, managing healthcare costs, and reducing chronic disease, leaders in Congress have declared health centers a model of care that offers a “bipartisan solution to the primary care access problems” facing our nation.
Open Door plans to celebrate by hosting several community events during that week. These events include a health fair, a car seat check clinic, and a farmers market.The health fair will be August 9th from 1-3pm. It will include blood pressure checks, healthy food demonstrations, and health information from organizations throughout the community. Community members can come to learn more about their health, and ways to improve it through healthy eating and exercise.
Open Door is partnering with SafeKids to provide a car seat check clinic on August 10th from 11am-3pm. Parents can pull their cars up and have their car seats checked to make sure they are being used properly. They will also receive car seat safety information.
Open Door, along with WIC, will be hosting a famers market August 11th from 11am – 2pm. Community members are encouraged to come purchase fresh produce, such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, and watermelon. The farmers market is also a great way to support local farmers.
All of these events are FREE and open to the public. They are both located at 333 S. Madison St. in Muncie. Open Door would like to invite everyone to come celebrate National Health Center Week.
To learn more about NHCW and the listing of events please visit: www.healthcenterweek.org or www.opendoorhs.org
You can also follow the conversation using #NHCW16 or #CHCsInnovate on Twitter.
