It’s the end of National Health Center Week, in which hundreds of Federally Qualified Health Centers around the country offered community events, hosted their local representatives, and held health fairs -- from Cape Cod, where locals gathered for a “legislative breakfast,” to Cincinatti, where a back-to-school health fair provided young patients with physical and dental exams and a free backpack with school supplies, to Santa Barbara, with local patient appreciation events and health screenings. “Patients at our centers and the other community health centers in our county are treated for a fraction of the cost of an emergency room visit," emphasized Dr. Douglas Metz earlier this week when speaking to The Lompoc Record. "We are on the front lines of public health. This is the essence of what health care should be and what we are celebrating during National Health Center Week." This week’s Five on Friday, as always, offers up pieces we shared here at MCN, which we hope will be useful to you as clinicians and health advocates serving the underserved at health centers and community organizations around the country. Enjoy!

1. Karen, CEO: 2016 UDS data is now available, detailing how 25.6 million people used health centers last year.


2. Ed, Co-Chief Medical Officer, shared the announcement of the brand-new Human DX project. Here’s one article on the new technology-driven specialty care solution.


3. Amy, Director of Environmental and Occupational Health, forwarded on an email thread about Oregon’s recent move to give all children health care access, regardless of their immigration status, joining just a small handful of states to do so. Last week, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed the bill into law.


4. Jillian, Director of Professional Development and Education, sent in NPR’s recent investigative piece, “They Got Hurt At Work — Then They Got Deported.” 


5. Corey, Communications and Graphics Designer, emailed this Savannah, Georgia article entitled, “Many migrant farmworkers face medical challenges, barriers to care.”

Have a safe and healthy weekend.

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