NATIONAL HEALTH CENTER WEEK
“August 6, 2023 – August 12, 2023”
PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS: For over 50 years, Community Health Centers have provided high-quality, affordable, comprehensive primary and preventative health care in our nation’s underserved communities, delivering value to, and having a significant impact on, America’s health care system; and WHEREAS: As the country’s largest primary care network, Health Centers now serve as the health care home for over 30 million Americans in over 14,000 communities across the nation. One in every twelve people in the United States gets their care in a community health center; and WHEREAS: Health Centers are a critical element of the health system, serving both rural and urban communities, and often providing the only accessible and dependable source of primary care in their communities. Nationwide, Health Centers serve one in every five residents of rural areas; and WHEREAS: Community Health Centers are governed by patient-majority boards, ensuring that patients are engaged in their own health care decisions; and
WHEREAS: Community Health Centers are locally owned and operated small businesses that serve as critical economic engines, helping to power local economies by generating $85 billion in economic activity and more than $37 billion in labor income in some of the country’s most economically distressed communities; and WHEREAS: Community Health Centers serve as beacons of essential resources and support in the face of disasters and pandemics and will continue to respond quickly to care for America’s most vulnerable and underserved communities. Community Health Centers have administered over 22 million COVID-19 tests and over 24 million vaccines to date; and
WHEREAS: Community Health Centers nationally support more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, licensed family therapists, and certified nurse-midwives who work as part of multi-disciplinary clinical teams designed to treat the whole patient; and WHEREAS: The Community Health Center model continues to prove an effective means of overcoming barriers to healthcare access, including geography, income, and insurance status – improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare system costs; and
WHEREAS: National Health Center Week offers the opportunity to celebrate Golden Valley Health Centers at any of their 45 locations, their dedicated staff, board members, patients and all those responsible for their continued success and growth since the first Golden Valley Health Centers opened their doors more than 50 years ago.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that I, Mayor Michael Clauzel as Mayor of the City of Patterson, do hereby officially proclaim August 6 - 12, 2023, as “National Health Center Week”. I encourage all Americans to take part in this week by visiting Golden Valley Health Centers and celebrating the important partnership between America’s Health Centers and the patients they serve.
IN WITNESS, HEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the official seal of the City of Patterson to be affixed this 18th day of July 2023. ___________________________
Michael Clauzel
Mayor