Vision center ribbon cutting helps mark National Health Center Week
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Centerville Clinics, Cornerstone Care, Washington Health System and McCracken Pharmacy celebrated National Health Center Week with several events that included a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Cornerstone Care Community Vision and Eye Health Center in Waynesburg.
National Health Center Week, which celebrates the contributions of community health centers and employees who deliver affordable preventive and primary care services to residents, was held Aug. 7-12.
Health centers annually provide health care services to almost 30 million people who disproportionately suffer from chronic disease and who lack access to affordable, quality care.
Community health centers also have played a critical role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022 National Health Center Week honored those front line providers, staff, and patients who lost their lives during the pandemic.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 a time for us to recognize and honor the work that community health centers do in our nation and locally,鈥� said Donna Simpson, Director of Communication, Outreach and Mobile Services for Cornerstone Care Community Health Centers. 鈥淎n important part of the celebration was thanking our workers and employees who worked through the pandemic, and worked the whole time when other places were closed. We thank them and want to honor the work they do.鈥�
Richard Rhinehart, CEO of Cornerstone Care, was pleased to unveil the Vision and Eye Health Center, located across the street from WHS-Greene at 1150 Seventh St.
The center provides comprehensive routine eye care services, including pediatric eye exams.
鈥淲e have seen the need for people to have better access to eye care for many years, so we鈥檙e excited about that,鈥� said Rinehart, noting the importance of addressing eye care in overall health care.
For example, an annual retinal eye exam plays an important role in managing diabetes, said Rinehart.
鈥淒iabetes, like other diseases, has a standard of care, how to treat that disease. For diabetes, it includes keeping blood pressure in check, be on certain medications, and have an annual retinal eye exam because diabetes attacks all parts of your body, including eyesight,鈥� explained Rinehart. 鈥淲e鈥檝e done a great job of diabetes care and we鈥檇 score high on all the standards, but we couldn鈥檛 get people to go for eye exams to manage their diabetes. The idea of having it in-house so that it would make it easier for people, and don鈥檛 worry about the cost, has been a compelling thing for us.鈥�
The mission of community health centers 鈥� to meet the health care needs for everyone, including the medically vulnerable 鈥� remains crucial, Rinehart said.
He doesn鈥檛 want people to end up in the emergency room for health problems that have gone untreated for years because they were afraid they couldn鈥檛 afford to go to the doctor for preventative care.
鈥淚 say community means everybody, whether you have enough money or not. Nobody should be denied health care for lack of ability to pay,鈥� said Rinehart. 鈥淲e have people coming to us who have choices, who have the best health insurance and they come to us for the quality of care and the providers, and we have others that have no or few options. We鈥檙e not turning anyone away because of any barriers 鈥� whether it蘑菇视频 money, health insurance, transportation, education and literacy 鈥� and you are not going to be marginalized for who you are, regardless of if it is gender, ethnicity, orientation. We try to make it accessible and affordable.鈥�