HRHCare Celebrates 50 Years of Community Health Centers

HRHCare, a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center offering a range of medical services to underserved communities in the Hudson Valley and Long Island, joins the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) in celebrating the success of the Community Health Center Movement. 50 years ago President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty led to the opening of the first community health centers in Boston and the Mississippi Delta. Today that pilot project has evolved into the largest and most successful primary health care system in the United States. Health centers now serve more than 23 million Americans and save the nation’s health care system around $24 billion annually in reduced overall costs from hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

“As we celebrate our own 40th Anniversary, HRHCare is also a proud sponsor of the 50th Anniversary of the Community Health Center Movement and its historic legacy of saving lives,” said Anne Kauffman Nolon, MPH, President and CEO of HRHCare. “In marking this important milestone, HRHCare supports the mission of health centers everywhere to provide high quality and affordable health care to people in need. We are particularly thankful to our local Boards where patients govern the communities’ health center system.”

Community health centers not only formed the basis for primary care in the United States but also began one of the most enduring public-private partnerships in our history. To this day health centers remain small, nonprofit businesses operated by patient-majority governing boards that meet local health care needs. Every dollar invested in health centers means a return on the investment with more Iives saved, more jobs created and reduced health care costs.

To learn more about the Community Health Center success story: www.nachc.org

To learn more about HRHCare: www.hrhcare.org