HRSA - $10 Million Awarded to Expand Health Center Services for Farmworkers, Homeless

	U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA NEWS ROOM http://newsroom.hrsa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 16, 2006

CONTACT: HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376

HHS Awards $10 Million to Expand Health Center Services for Farmworkers, Homeless

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced grants worth $10 million to help 29 health centers serve more migrant and seasonal farmworkers and people who are homeless.

“Today’s awards will expand access to health care for an additional 65,000 migrant farmworkers and homeless Americans,” Secretary Leavitt said. “People served by health centers that these grants support are among the most vulnerable and medically needy in America.”

Health centers deliver comprehensive primary and preventive care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Charges for health care services are set according to income, and fees are not collected from the poorest patients. In a typical year, about 40 percent of health center patients have no insurance coverage.

The grants support President Bush’s multi-year initiative to expand the health center system and strengthen the Nation’s health care safety net. Launched in 2002, the goal of the President’s initiative is to increase access to health care by creating new health centers or expanding services at existing sites in 1,200 communities. With these grants, HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will have funded about 900 new or expanded health center sites under the initiative.

The nation’s 3,800 health center sites are expected to serve an estimated 14.6 million patients in 2006. That number represents a sharp increase from the 10.3 million patients who received care at health centers in 2001, the year before the President’s initiative began. The health center program’s annual budget has grown from $1.16 billion to $1.74 billion over the five-year period.

The awards are part of the Consolidated Health Center Program, administered by HRSA, which supports operations at community health centers, migrant health centers, health care for the homeless centers, and public housing primary care centers.

The list of grant recipients follows:

Expanded Medical Capacity for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers
and Homeless Persons, FY 2006

Organization	City	State	Amount
Quality of Life Health Services	Gadsden	Ala.	$425,800
Clinica Adelante	Surprise	Ariz.	261,433
Clinica Sierra Vista	Bakersfield	Calif.	416,667
Darin M. Camarena Health Centers, Inc.	Madera	Calif.	358,000
Golden Valley Health Center	Merced	Calif.	341,667
United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley	Parlier	Calif.	545,560
Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System	San Jose	Calif.	186,667
North County Health Project	San Marcos	Calif.	83,333
Vista Community Clinic	Vista	Calif.	360,000
Collier Health Services	Immokalee	Fla.	400,000
Community Health of South Dade, Inc.	Miami	Fla.	204,645
Suncoast Community Health Centers, Inc.	Ruskin	Fla.	265,601
Community Health Partnership of Illinois	Chicago	Ill.	109,700
Proteus Employment Opportunities	Des Moines	Iowa	1,462
Intercare Community Health Network	Bangor	Mich.	365,137
Coastal Family Health Center	Biloxi	Miss.	206,522
Community Health Partners	Livingston	Mont.	171,438
Community Health Care	Bridgeton	N.J.	657,333
Southern Jersey Family Health	Hammonton	N.J.	315,000
Goshen Medical Center	Faison	N.C.	831,657
Greene County Health Care	Snow Hill	N.C.	800,000
Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center	Cornelius	Ore.	450,000
Community Health Centers of Lane County	Eugene	Ore.	441,667
La Clinica del Carino	Hood River	Ore.	215,925
La Clinica del Valle Family Health	Medford	Ore.	483,333
Little River Medical Center	Little River	S.C.	270,907
Beaufort-Jasper Comprehensive Health Center, Inc.	Ridgeland	S.C.	269,259
Moses Lake Community Health Center	Moses Lake	Wash.	401,672
La Clinica De Los Campesinos, Inc.	Wautoma	Wis.	139,227
Total			$9,979,610