Hi Everyone!

National Health Center Week is less than a month away!  The theme of this year’s National Health Center Week is “Celebrating American’s Health Centers: Serving Locally, Leading Nationally.”  We’re really excited about our schedule of events this year, as we’re working with our member health centers, community partners, and elected officials to not only raise awareness about the value of community health centers, but also using this week as a reason to educate the general public about a broad range of health and health care advocacy issues.

Here’s how our schedule looks so far:

Monday, August 8
Health Disparities and Inequities Community Briefing
Sponsored by Assemblymember Paul Fong
1:00-3:00 PM
Isaac Newton Senter Auditorium
County of Santa Clara Government Center
70 West Hedding Street, San Jose, CA
RSVP: Email Assemblymember.Fong@assembly.ca.gov or call (408) 277-2003

Tuesday, August 9
Proclamation of National Health Center Week by the County of Santa Clara
Reception to Follow
9:00 AM
County of Santa Clara Government Center
70 West Hedding Street, San Jose, CA
RSVP: policy@chpscc.org or call (408) 579-6014

Wednesday, August 10
Free Blood Pressure and Glucose Screenings with City of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed!
Sponsored by Gardner Family Health Center
10:00-1:00 PM
Gardner Family Health Center’s Mobile Unit will be parked close to the City of San Jose Rotunda Building

Date to be determined:   Health Care Reform and Medicaid Legislative Briefing with Congressman Mike Honda

Just wanted to share these dates so you have them in your calendar!  I really hope you can join us.  In the coming weeks, I’ll be rolling out more information, and spotlighting each of events in grand style.  Also, if you’re interested in volunteering, please feel free to give me a call: (408) 570-6014.

Best,

Grace-Sonia

Greetings!  It’s my pleasure to come to you with Community Health Partnership’s first blog entry.  Through this blog, we’ll be providing the latest in “Partnership” updates, and bringing you stories from our network of member community health centers and clinics in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.  In addition to these “news-y” features, we would like this blog to be a space for us (including you, the reader) to explore and discuss the many issues that come up when one believes that “health care is a right, not a privilege.”  Some of these issues include Health Care Reform  cultural and linguistic appropriateness in health care settings, Medi-Cal and Medicare.

We drew inspiration from our blog title, “Access to All” from our vision and mission statements. As a consortium of community health centers and clinics, we believe in and advocate for accessible health care services for all people, regardless of background or ability to pay.  The title “Access to All” also pays homage to the National Association of Community Health Centers’ (NACHC) ACCESS for All America plan, a plan to reduce the ranks of our country’s medically disenfranchised by preserving, strengthening, and expanding health centers.  As open accessibility is a feature we particularly appreciate about the online format, we also aim for this blog to be a welcoming, jargon-free place where readers interested in health care issues affecting vulnerable populations can come to learn, comment, and discuss.

Thank you so much for visiting!  We look forward to all the conversations.

Grace-Sonia Melanio
Health Policy Specialist