community health

Nicole Daceus, who was recently tested for HPV through the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, speaks with Valentine Cesar (right), a community health worker. Having a culturally competent staff can be key to cutting through health care avoidance and fear, Cesar says.

Miami's Little Haiti joins global effort to end cervical cancer

5:01am October 11, 2022

by Verónica Zaragovia

As a first step to early treatment, health workers who speak Haitian Creole are teaching people in Little Haiti how to test themselves for HPV, the virus that causes half of all cervical cancers.

At a Kedren Community Health Center vaccine clinic in South Central Los Angeles this month, 89-year-old Cecilia Onwytalu (center) signals she's more than ready to get her immunization against COVID-19.

Health & Safety

Race Versus Time: Targeting Vaccine To The Most Vulnerable Is No Speedy Task

9:37pm February 23, 2021

by Yuki Noguchi

The Biden team wants to swiftly vaccinate people of color and others most vulnerable to COVID-19. But health centers are learning that speed and achieving racial equity don't always go hand in hand.

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Public health officials worry that the mostly low-income and immigrant populations served by community health centers aren't getting proper health care and testing.

Community Health Centers Struggling As Fewer People Seek Care During Pandemic

1:18pm May 19, 2020

by Marisa Peñaloza

Many immigrants and people with low incomes already saw preventive care as a luxury. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has created another barrier to their seeking and receiving health care.

Well-kept parks, clean air and water, safe and friendly neighborhoods: these and many other factors outside our control contribute to health.

Health & Safety

'Well' Explores The Social And Political Underpinnings Of Health

5:01am June 04, 2019

by Stephanie O'Neill

In a new book, physician Sandro Galea calls for a change in how we talk about health in America. The real drivers of wellness, he argues, are not personal choice, but our history, policies and values.

Inside the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in its earliest days. The clinic opened on June 7, 1967, and treated 250 patients that day. It's motto, then and now: "Health care is a right, not a privilege."

A 1960s 'Hippie Clinic' In San Francisco Inspired A Medical Philosophy

6:00am December 30, 2017

by Carrie Feibel

Fifty years ago a community health clinic first opened its doors as a safe, sympathetic space for countercultural youth. Today its motto is the same: "Health care is a right, not a privilege."

About 35 percent of the patients at this clinic in York, Pa., receive Medicaid. The clinic offers STD testing, cancer screening and contraception services as well as abortion services.

Public Clinics Fear Federal Cuts To Planned Parenthood Would Strand Patients

6:00pm March 07, 2017

by Sarah McCammon

A goal for many Republicans is to cut federal funding for health services at Planned Parenthood and divert those funds to public health centers. How ready are those centers to pick up that work?

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A large collage decorates a wall of one exam room at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco, Calif. Dr. David Smith, founder of the clinic, says patients and staff call the mural the Psychedelic Wall of Fame.

Haight Ashbury's Free Health Clinic: Middle-Aged And Still Groovy

6:09pm January 22, 2017

by Laurie Udesky

A series of mergers with other nonprofit clinics has transformed the 50-year-old San Francisco clinic into a $110 million health care system that provides networked care up and down California.

Why A Snakebite Victim In An Indian Village Won't Walk Through A Door

4:25pm September 17, 2015

by Ankita Rao

When doctors travel to remote regions, they have to understand local traditions and beliefs before they can successfully treat a patient.

Lorenzo Dorr works at the grassroots level to help deliver health services in far-flung areas of Liberia.

Ebola In Remote Liberia, Through The Eyes Of A Local Health Worker

1:10pm November 25, 2014

by Hannah Bloch

Amid hopeful news from Liberia of dwindling numbers of Ebola cases, an outbreak of the disease started late last month in a remote part of the country. Health worker Lorenzo Dorr gives us an update.

Norma Melendez, a community health worker with City Health Works, walks along Second Avenue on her way to meet a client. City Health Works is an organization that is attempting to bring an African model of health care delivery to the United States.

Africa Inspires A Health Care Experiment In New York

5:09pm November 24, 2014

by Joe Palca

Dr. Prabhjot Singh lives and works in Harlem, a neighborhood plagued by chronic disease. He thinks an African model of health care can help — training people in the community to be health educators.

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