What is a Community Health Center?
Community Health Centers are non-profit clinics funded by the federal and state government and other grants that have a mission to provide routine health care to people who struggle to find a doctor or nurse to care for them. Health centers have an open-door policy, caring for people whether they have insurance or not, no matter what their income is. If patients have no insurance, their cost is based on their ability to pay, using income and family size, called a sliding fee scale.
Community Health Centers are often found in places where there are no other health care options. Sometimes the area is so far out in the country, no doctors or dentists have an office. Sometimes, they are in city neighborhoods where people just can’t get to a traditional clinic because of transportation or money, or language and culture. Community Health Centers are dedicated to serving those who are “underserved” for whatever reason.
Community Health Centers are not emergency or urgent care centers. Instead, they provide primary and preventive health care such as:
Community Health Centers are non-profit clinics funded by the federal and state government and other grants that have a mission to provide routine health care to people who struggle to find a doctor or nurse to care for them. Health centers have an open-door policy, caring for people whether they have insurance or not, no matter what their income is. If patients have no insurance, their cost is based on their ability to pay, using income and family size, called a sliding fee scale.
Community Health Centers are often found in places where there are no other health care options. Sometimes the area is so far out in the country, no doctors or dentists have an office. Sometimes, they are in city neighborhoods where people just can’t get to a traditional clinic because of transportation or money, or language and culture. Community Health Centers are dedicated to serving those who are “underserved” for whatever reason.
Community Health Centers are not emergency or urgent care centers. Instead, they provide primary and preventive health care such as:
- Checkups and physicals
- Office visits when you’re sick
- Care for life-time diseases like diabetes or asthma
- Cancer screening
- Pre-natal and children’s health care
- Vaccinations
- Lab tests and X-rays
- Medicines prescribed by the doctor, nurse or physician’s assistant
- Health education, like losing weight and exercising; and counseling, such as for sexually transmitted infections
- Transportation
- Medical translation
- Dental care
- Mental health, stop smoking and drug abuse treatment
- Provide links to welfare; BadgerCare Plus; drug or alcohol abuse treatment; Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program; and other services.
The combination of quit smoking medications and counseling can double or triple a person's chance of quitting for good.
Depression is three times more common for those who have had a heart attack than for others. Heart patients should be screened and treated for depression.