Community Health Centers in the United States were started in 1965 by Dr. Jack Geiger, who is a Tufts University professor, recognizing the need for medical care for the underserved, homeless, uninsured and chronically ill who had no means of obtaining care for themselves. This community health center in Mississippi was aimed at helping farm workers and their families who previously had done manual labor and had lost their means of existence to mechanization farming. During the same year the Columbia Point Community Health Center was started in Boston by people who understood the necessity for providing medical care to the same population defined above. The movement for Community Health has grown so that today there are more than 12 million people in the United States served by the system and almost one thousand Community Health Centers spread throughout the nation. They serve as a safety net for healthcare for those in need, an access point for those who could not obtain care otherwise and provide front line medicine in the very best way possible. Community Health Centers attract providers who are interested indeed in front line medicine, realizing the very significant importance that they play in serving others and those providers who are willing to work in the trenches where care is needed most.
The Christopher Rural Health Planning Corporation was formed in 1977 and began providing primary health care services in southern Illinois in 1978. Today, the corporation administers healthcare to over 26,000 patients in our area of multiple counties in Southern Illinois. We serve a mass of working middle class, a high percentage of Medicaid and Medicare recipients whose incomes are not sufficient to provide their families with medical and dental insurance. We serve an area that has seen declining employment. We are nearing 100,000 medical encounters per year, staff nearly 30 providers throughout our clinics in Southern Illinois and offer primary healthcare, obstetric care, specialized pediatric care and pride ourselves in the issuance of preventive care in helping patients understand how they can keep themselves healthy and their families the same. We have referral networks to local large clinics and universities. We provide ancillary service in nutritional counseling, diabetes awareness, breast cancer awareness and several other areas. We work with local state and federal agencies in carrying out our service to the needy. This includes local health departments, church organizations, and whatever local agencies can work with us for helping the most needy.
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