A federally-funded clinic in rural Mississippi embodies the history of community health centers in the U.S., and shows how these safety-net clinics can help minority patients during the pandemic.
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Mitch Williams, 85, one of the first patients to be seen at the Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou, Miss. poses inside of the center’s museum, March 3, 2021.
In the 1960s, health care for Black residents in rural Mississippi was practically non-existent. While some hospitals served Black patients, they struggled to stay afloat; most options were segregated. During the height of the civil rights movement, young Black doctors decided to launch a movement of their own.
“Mississippi was third-world and was so bad and so separated. The community health center movement was the conduit for physicians all over this country who believed that all people have a right to health care,” said Dr. Robert Smith.
In Mississippi, Working to Treat Food Insecurity
Through a new program, health centers will give patients access to healthy food and educate them about how best to cook it.
Young gardeners pose at Coastal Family Health Center s children s garden. (Photo courtesy of Coastal Family Health Center)
At one of the oldest community health centers in the country – that’s Delta Health Center in Mississippi – there’s a story about a famous doctor who used to write prescriptions for food.
Dr. Jack Geiger, the founding father of the community health center movement, would send his patients to the grocery store to get healthy food. The grocer would fill the order and send the bill to the health center.
Patients as Partners: A Social Empowerment Approach to Health and Mental Health
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