On the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, take a look back at the Gulf States Newsroom’s coverage of the infectious disease’s impact on the Gulf South region.
On the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, take a look back at the Gulf States Newsroom’s coverage of the infectious disease’s impact on the Gulf South region.
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.