Open Door Sleepy Hollow to Celebrate National Health Center, Literacy Weeks

The following release is from Open Door Family Medical Centers:

Open Door Family Medical Centers is hosting an event at their Sleepy Hollow offices on Wednesday, August 13 in celebration of National Health Center Week and National Literacy Week. The event, free and open to the public will include a visit from special guest Congresswoman Nita Lowey who will join with Open Door’s Reach Out and Read Program by reading “If You Take a Mouse to School” to children from the Sleepy Hollow community. Children who attend the event will receive free backpacks and back-to-school supplies, sponsored by theNational Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), while infants and toddlers will receive brand new clothes donated by Carter’s. Refreshments will be served. The event, which takes place from 12-1pm, is free and open to the public, but registration is required; contact Grace Beltran at 914.502.1339, or via email, gbeltran@odfmc.org. Open Door’s Sleepy Hollow office is located at 80 Beekman Avenue.

During the event, Congresswoman Lowey will receive NACHC’s 2014 Distinguished Community Health Hero Award presented by Lindsay Farrell, President and CEO of Open Door Family Medical Centers. Other special guests celebrating National Health Center Week and National Literacy Week with Open Door will include Assemblyman Tom Abinanti , Mayor Ken Wray of the Village of Sleepy Hollow, John Sawyer of NACHC, and Elizabeth Swain, President and CEO of Community Healthcare Association of New York State (CHCANYS).

Nationwide, community health centers serve as the medical health care home for over 22 million people. Open Door accounts for almost 45,000 patients, providing services from their offices in Sleepy Hollow, Ossining, Mount Kisco, Port Chester, Brewster, and 5 school-based health centers in the Port Chester Union Free School District. Nearly all health center patients are low income, with 72% having family incomes at or below poverty. Patients also tend to be members of racial and ethnic minority groups. At the same time, 36% of health center patients are uninsured and another 40% depend on Medicaid. Health centers like Open Door remove the financial, geographic and cultural barriers to access to quality health care for this vulnerable population by locating in areas identified by the federal government as having elevated poverty rates and are open to all residents, regardless of insurance status, providing care based on a sliding scale fee. In addition, health centers offer services that help patient’s access care, such as transportation, translation, case management, health education, and home visitation; and they tailor their services to fit the special needs and priorities of their unique communities, providing services in a linguistically and culturally appropriate setting. For many patients, the health center may be the only source of health care services available, other than then emergency room. In fact, the number of uninsured patients at health centers has more than doubled – from 3.9 million in 1998 to over 8 million today.

“We are honored that Congresswoman Lowey has chosen to celebrate National Health Center Week with us at our Sleepy Hollow Site. Her leadership in Washington has been essential in maintaining funding for health centers across the United States. Over 40,000 patients in Westchester and Putnam County rely on Open Door as their medical home where they are assured access to the finest medical, behavioral, and dental care available. We are able to provide these vital services because of the support of our local, state, and federal officials, along with our donors, who recognize the important role community health centers play in keeping our communities healthy,” said Ms. Farrell.

For more information about Open Door visit: http://opendoormedical.org.

About Open Door Family Medical Centers

Open Door, winner of the 2012 New York Nonprofit Excellence Award, has received the highest Recognition as a Patient-Centered Medical Home™ (PPC-PCMH™) from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). This ranking distinguishes them from medical practices across the nation as less than 12% are presently eligible to achieve this advanced standing. For more than 40 years, the federally qualified community health center has served a multi-cultural community and has provided top quality medical, dental care and social services to the Westchester community, particularly the economically disadvantaged. Open Door has four centers in Westchester located in Ossining, Port Chester, Mt. Kisco and Sleepy Hollow. In addition, Open Door operates five school-based health centers in Port Chester at The Edison Elementary School, Park Avenue School, the John F. Kennedy Elementary School, Port Chester Middle School and Port Chester High School. In 2013, 49,470 patients were treated at Open Door, making 210,615 patient visits. In the same year, 15,235 youth, 19 years-old and under, were treated. In 2012 Open Door, with partners New York Medical College and Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, launched the NYMC Phelps Family Medicine Residency Program along with a Dental Residency Program. The Family Medicine Residency is the first accredited family medicine residency to be established in New York State since 1995. In February 2013 Open Door opened an office in Brewster, NY, the first community health center in Putnam County. Funding for Open Door Family Medical Centers comes from local, state and federal grants as well as private foundations and individuals.