U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America	Frequent Questions Search

Font Size     Print     Download Reader

This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.

The new CCOEs -- in Minneapolis, Cleveland, St. Johnsbury, Vt., and Santa Fe, N.M. -- will coordinate all aspects of issues related to women's health at every stage of life, including active management of socioeconomic and cultural obstacles to quality health care for underserved women. HHS will provide $150,000 annually to each center for each of the next five years to support the program.

"These new centers of excellence will provide real help to women who otherwise would face serious challenges in getting needed health care and social services," Secretary Thompson said. "These projects will serve as models for how best to meet the health needs of women in local communities."

The new CCOEs will be at the Hennepin County Primary Care Department in Minneapolis, the NorthEast Neighborhood Health Services Network in Cleveland, the Northeastern Vermont Area Health Education Center in St Johnsbury, and the Women's Health Services in Santa Fe, N.M.

The CCOE program provides recognition and resources to community?based programs that unite promising approaches in women's health across six components: health services delivery, particularly preventive services; training for health care professionals and other staff; community?based research; public education and outreach; leadership development for women; and technical assistance to other communities that want to replicate the program.

"Traditional health care settings often focus on specific diseases or organ systems," said Wanda Jones, Dr.P.H., deputy assistant secretary for health (women's health) and director of HHS' Office on Women's Health. "Integrating clinical services, prevention education and research into one setting strengthens health services for the whole woman, and by extending this model into community health centers, clinic managers can work with women to design programs relevant to local needs."

The Hennepin County Primary Care Department is a multi-clinic, multi-specialty health care provider serving low-income, urban, racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Minneapolis' Near North Planning District. The NorthEast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services network consists of five urban health care centers and will target its efforts under this program in the communities of East Cleveland, Forest Hills and Glenmont. The Northeastern Vermont Area Health Education Center is located in one of the poorest, most rural regions of the state and will target women in Caledonia, Essex and Orleans counties, an area known as the Northeast Kingdom. The Women's Health Services coalition in Santa Fe consists of six partners that will coordinate women's health care in the underserved areas of Santa Fe and some women in adjacent counties.

Last year, HHS established the first three CCOEs at the Northeast Missouri Health Council in Kirksville, Mo., the St. Barnabas Hospital and Healthcare System in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City, and at the Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, Ariz. HHS plans to fund three or more new programs every year until a total of 15 awards have been made. HHS is providing $150,000 in continuing funding to each project this year.

The CCOE program is created and funded by the HHS Office on Women's Health, the HHS Office of Minority Health and HHS Health Resources and Services Administration. The program is part of the department's goal to eliminate racial, ethnic and gender disparities in health status. For more information on the National Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health, visit www.4woman.gov.

###

HHS Home | Questions? | Contacting HHS | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | FOIA | Disclaimers | The White House | USA.gov | Helping America's Youth

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services - 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. - Washington, D.C. 20201