Community health centers to receive $6M

PROVIDENCE—Rhode Island’s congressional delegation said Monday that the state will get nearly $6 million in federal money for capital improvements to community health care centers.

“If you’re sick, the emergency rooms have to see you, and of course that’s a huge cost,“ said Rep. Patrick Kennedy. “Just think, in this country if we had more community health centers, what that would be like.“

With so many uninsured in Rhode Island and emergency rooms busting at the seams, community health centers lighten the burden on the state’s over-taxed health care system.

“We don’t have county government here and our municipal agencies do not have health departments either. Even our own health department doesn’t run direct service clinics. The community health centers are the backbone of public primary care in the state,“ said Jane Hayward, of the Rhode Island Health Center Association.