Guest Article: Support Community Health Centers

By Kathy Sather

We know that small, locally owned businesses serve as economic engines on which communities can succeed and thrive. They account for 65 percent of all new jobs and nearly 50 percent of all employees nationwide.
I hope you will join me in urging lawmakers to invest in one of our own economic engines – Family Health Care with centers located in Baldwin, Cadillac, Grant, McBain and Cadillac. Here in Michigan, community health centers employ more than 6,000 people of all education and ability levels, generating more than $1.3 billion in economic activity.
As the President and CEO of Family Health Care, I am proud of the personalized approach we take to provide quality, affordable health care. We are a community institution, welcoming and providing care for all our neighbors, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or their ability to pay. We make sure our grandparents can afford their prescriptions; we provide dad with cancer screenings; we provide mom with the best prenatal care; and, we nurture their newborn’s development at every check-up. 
At Family Health Care, we proudly care for nearly 26,000 community members right here in West Michigan. We provide our patients with not only medical care but also dental care, behavioral health, pharmacy, radiology, laboratory and vision services to ensure they can navigate the complicated landscape of health care. Our staff consistently go beyond the medical chart to ensure that families have access to essential resources and a warm, comforting space. 
Today, community health centers across the country are facing an uncertain future. Even though we comprise the largest primary care network in the country, solidifying the backbone of the health care safety net, Congress has yet to pass our long-term funding. As a result, health centers are forced to operate on short-term funding patches, making it difficult for us to provide consistent services, plan for the future, and recruit and retain our best employees. Small businesses cannot survive without stability in funding. We can only continue to provide quality health care for people in our community if Congress acts – and acts now. 
This holiday season; please consider supporting businesses like mine in other ways. Call or email your member of Congress and remind them how integral health centers are in our community. Remember: community health centers are local businesses that are keeping us healthy.
 
Kathy Sather
President & CEO
Family Health Care

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