Mobile County Health Department receives National Community Health Center week proclamation



The Mobile County Health Department's Susan Stiegler, Mobile Mayor Sam
Jones and Angelia Blackmon Lewis pose for a photo with the proclamation
on August 13, 2013 during the Mobile City Council meeting.



MOBILE, Alabama -- Mobile Mayor Sam Jones declared August 13, 2013, as Community Health Center Day in Mobile during a City Council meeting here. The Mobile County Health Department’s Susan Stiegler, Director of Family Health Services, and Angelia Blackmon Lewis, a director in the Bureau of Primary Care, accepted the proclamation during the meeting at Government Plaza. National Community Health Center Week spans August 11-17.

President Barack Obama also issued a proclamation this week detailing the numerous ways community health center’s perform vital roles across the nation. “One in every 15 people living in the United States depends on their services,” he said of community health centers. “They are an important source of jobs in many low-income communities, employing more than 148,000 people nationwide. And with clinical and support staff who are responsive to their communities' needs and cultures, health centers are important partners in our efforts to reduce health disparities.”

Since 1979, the Mobile County Health Department’s Family Oriented Primary Health Care Clinic (FOPHCC) has provided comprehensive primary care services throughout Mobile County and now provides primary care services at nine sites from Mount Vernon to Tillman’s Corner. The sites, which are all designated as Federally Qualified Health Centers, are strategically located where the targeted population needs are the greatest and access to care is limited, agency officials said. A mobile health unit also brings primary care and wellness screenings to those who might not otherwise have the means to travel to a health center.

With higher unemployment and more people uninsured or underinsured across Alabama and beyond, community health centers have become the safety net for those who don’t have access to other sources of health care. For more than 45 years, community health centers have delivered comprehensive, high-quality preventive and primary health care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. During that time, community health centers have become the essential primary care medical home for millions of Americans, including some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations, health officials said.