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News Release

HHS AWARDS FIVE NEW MODEL COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS
TO IMPROVE WOMEN'S HEALTH

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the creation of five new National Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (CCOEs) to provide integrated health and social services to women in their communities.

The new CCOEs will serve women of diverse races and ethnicities in urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods -- in Birmingham, Ala.; Derby, Conn.; Wilmington, Del.; Clearwater, Fla.; and Honolulu, Hawaii. The CCOEs will coordinate all aspects of issues related to women's health throughout the life span, and will address the cultural and socioeconomic challenges to quality health care for underserved women. HHS will provide $150,000 to each center for each of the next five years to support the program. This brings the total number of CCOEs to 12.

"These new National Community Centers of Excellence are part of our continuing effort to bring quality health care to women in all corners of America," Secretary Thompson said. "We know that the best way to ensure culturally appropriate care for the nation's most underserved citizens is through integrated community-based care. This program expands successful models of care that have worked wonders in other communities."

The new CCOEs will be at the Morton Plant Mease Health Care in Clearwater, Fla.; the Christiana Care Health Services in Wilmington, Del.; the Jefferson Health System in Birmingham, Ala.; the Griffin Health Services Corporation in Derby, Conn.; and the Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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.

"We are delighted that we are able to broaden the National Community Centers of Excellence program from coast to coast with the addition of these fine community health centers," said Wanda Jones, Dr.P.H., deputy assistant secretary for 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 around the country, clinic managers can work with women to customize programs to meet local and regional needs".

HHS has seven existing CCOEs at Northeast Missouri Health Council in Kirksville, Mo., the St. Barnabas Hospital and Healthcare System in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City, the Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, Ariz., the Hennepin County Primary Care Department in Minneapolis, the NorthEast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services network in the Cleveland area, the Northeastern Vermont Area Health Education located in the northeast area of the state, and the Women's Health Services coalition in Santa Fe, N.M.

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 CCOEs visit www.4woman.gov.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: October 09, 2002