January 30, 2018

Duckworth, Durbin Announce Over $200k for Southern Illinois Rural Health Centers

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced a $203,400 federal grant to support local community health centers throughout Southern Illinois. The funding comes through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), which supports community health centers in their efforts to improve access to affordable, high-quality health care in underserved urban and rural communities.

“Community health centers help children, families and seniors across Southern Illinois access essential healthcare services,” said Duckworth. “This funding will enable these centers to continue providing quality, affordable care to thousands of Illinois families, which is crucial to the overall strength of our state. Congress must act soon to fully reauthorize funding for community health centers so that hard-working Illinoisans don’t lose access to these vital services.”

“Community health centers provide high-quality, comprehensive medical care for more than one million Illinoisans every year. While invaluable everywhere, they are particularly critical for ensuring access to care in rural communities across our state,” said Durbin. “It is long past time for Congress to fully reauthorize funding for community health centers to ensure that organizations like Rural Health, Inc can continue bringing critical medical care to Illinois families.”

Senator Duckworth has consistently advocated for Congress to fully reauthorize funding for community health centers. Just last week, Senator Duckworth toured a community health center and called on Congress to fully fund the 402 health centers in Illinois that currently provide primary health care services to approximately 1.3 million Illinois residents, including one out of every four Medicaid patients.

Today’s funding will be used by Rural Health, Inc., which is a private, not-for-profit organization located in Anna, Illinois, that operates five health clinics in Southern Illinois. The organization operates clinics in Anna, Goreville, Vienna, Dongola and Metropolis that provides quality dental, medical and psychiatric care with no income, age or residency requirements.

The HRSA’s Health Program has grown from two to nearly 1,400 community health centers over its 50 year history. These centers operate over 9,800 clinic sites in every U.S. state and territory. In 2015, community health centers employed nearly 190,000 people and served over 24 million patients. One in 13 people nationwide rely on a HRSA-funded community health center for their preventive and primary health care needs.