Posted on: Tuesday, January 15, 2002

ISLAND VOICES
Health centers need your support

By Beth Giesting

The news hasn't been so good lately: A lot of people are losing jobs and benefits, hospitals are trying to staunch a flow of red ink and at least twice as many Hawai'i residents are without health insurance as there were a decade ago.

However, we do have a resource that goes far to lessen the personal and societal calamities that can result from loss of access to healthcare. Hawai'i has 10 nonprofit community health centers that operate in nearly 30 communities on four islands.

Community health centers exist to make sure that people can get the healthcare they need. The centers provide medical care for the whole family, but also offer an impressive array of services. With the Medicine Bank as a resource, Hawai'i's community health centers also help patients get the prescription drugs they need.

No insurance? No problem. Health centers charge uninsured patients on a sliding scale, collecting what patients can afford to pay. For the many uninsured children and other family members who might qualify for QUEST, health centers can help make the application process nearly painless.

People whose cultures, languages or educational backgrounds put them at odds with our mainstream medical system are made to feel at home.

Further good news: Although the health centers are independent and tailored to meet the needs of their communities, they are each subject to rigorous quality standards.

Last year, community health centers cared for more than 70,000 Hawai'i residents, but we all benefited. People with no insurance or with language or cultural barriers to care are most likely not to seek care when and where it is most appropriate. Many end up in emergency rooms or get admitted to the hospital for conditions that could have been managed on an outpatient basis.

Of course, health centers that have to be so many things to so many people need public support, too. On average, caring for a patient for a year costs $675 at a community health center in Hawai'i. Forty percent of this cost is covered by charitable and government sources. It's a great bargain.

Now, more than ever, we need community health centers. Now, more than ever, health centers need your support.

Beth Giesting is the executive director of the Hawai'i Primary Care Association and former director of the Kalihi-Palama Health Center.