Choptank Community Health recognizes importance of health centers
Choptank Community Health System is recognizing National Health Center Week this Aug. 6-12 with the theme for the National Association of Community Health Center’s initiative set as “Community Health Centers: The Roadmap to a Stronger America.”
“Health centers provide preventive and primary care to more than 30 million people across the country, with services tailored to the needs of the unique communities,” said Choptank Health President and CEO Sara Rich.
“Together, we are the backbone of the nation’s primary care system,” Rich says. “Community Health Centers lower healthcare costs to the tune of $24 billion a year, reducing the rate of chronic diseases and stimulating local economies.”
Choptank Community Health is a Federally Qualified Health Center and one of 17 community-based health centers in Maryland serving more than 338,000 individuals, including those without insurance or the ability to pay.
“Choptank Health teams focus daily on our mission to provide access to exceptional, comprehensive, and integrated care to all.
“We’re not just healers, we are innovators who look for ways to address the factors that may cause poor health, such as poverty, homelessness, substance use, mental illness, access to nutritious food, and unemployment,” she says. “We are a critical piece of healthcare systems and collaborate with hospitals, local and state governments, and social, health, and business organizations to improve health outcomes for people who are medically vulnerable, including those living in our most rural areas.”
Choptank Community Health System provides medical, dental, and School-Based health services to more than 30,000 adults and children in Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties, with a mission to provide access to exceptional, comprehensive, and integrated healthcare for all. Medical services include primary healthcare, women’s health, pediatrics, behavioral health, chronic health management, and care navigation, with new medical patients now being accepted. More information is at www.choptankhealth.org.