BY KATRINA RATZLAFF, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, WALLACE For the past decade, Wallace’s mobile medical clinic has been a popular community ambassador. The big rig with two fully-equipped exam rooms (and even a small lab) has crisscrossed the streets of the Portland metro area thousands of times...
By Taylor Thompson, KHP Data Analyst COVID has made 2020 a truly unprecedented year. But, that hasn't stopped Klamath Health Partnership (KHP) from taking care of our community. In fact, in a time where healthcare is perhaps more important than ever, KHP has had to adapt...
By Julie Wurth, Communications Officer, La Clinica We like to say that a big part of our role at La Clinica is to meet the community’s need. Never have we had a greater opportunity to do that than in this unusual year—first as we adjusted for...
By Laura J. Recko, Associate Director of Communications & Donor Relations, Central City Concern How Central City Concern locations, staff, and operations have been impacted by wildfires: Similar to our COVID response, Central City Concern stood up an Incident Command Team which met daily to address...
By Erin Zelinka, Communications Manager, Rogue Community Health Rogue Community Health (RCH) began in 1972 as the Ashland Women’s Health Center, an all-volunteer organization focused on self-care exams, pregnancy and communicable disease testing. By 1977, the community requested services for a broader population, and the Ashland...
By Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center In 1975, beautiful six-year-old Virginia Garcia and her farmworker parents traveled from their home in Mission, Texas, to California and Oregon to work in the fields. Along the way Virginia cut her foot, and by the time they reached Oregon,...
By Chris Altavilla and Dustin Vance, Prism Health Prism Health was just an idea in 2015 when its parent organization, CAP, recognized an unfulfilled need in the local LGBTQ+ community for culturally affirming primary care. CAP spent two years, researching, planning, and raising funds for the...
By Penny Moore, Director of Development and Communications, Neighborhood Health Center How and when did your CHC open? Neighborhood Health Center (NHC) opened in 2010 out of a need to provide a medical home for 1,200 high-risk patients. CareOregon originally started NHC because they had 1,200...
By Bridget McGinn, Communications Manager, Mosaic Medical Quality Care For All: The Mosaic Medical Origin Story Founded under President Johnson during the War on Poverty initiative in the 1960s, Community Health Centers provide citizens across the nation with access to crucial primary care. By reducing patient barriers...
By Benjamin Brubaker, Co-Clinic Coordinator & Dee Hall, Retired Grant Writer, White Bird Clinic White Bird Clinic is a collective environment organized to enable people to gain control of their social, emotional, and physical well-being through direct service, education, and community ORIGIN: The White Bird organization and its...
By Julie Wurth, Communications Officer, La Clinica The year was 1989. “Rain Man” won the Academy Award for best film. Gas cost $1.10 a gallon. In Switzerland, a scientist developed the world’s first web browser. And in a little building next to the railroad tracks in...
By Katrina Ratzlaff, Director of Community Engagement, Wallace Over 36 years ago, a physician named James Reuler persuaded a handful of other doctors to join him in making medical visits to uninsured homeless and low-income residents of Downtown Portland. Dr. Reuler originally named this fledgling organization The...
Amber Betts, Communications Coordinator, Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic Birthed out of an unmet need, Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic emerged in Toppenish, Wash., in the late 1970s. With the mission to provide agricultural workers and their families with the care they were currently not receiving, three respected...
By Amber Hollingsworth, Communications Program Supervisor, Department of Family Medicine With the implementation of the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) in the early 1990s, health systems across the state looked to build and grow primary care access. OHSU’s Family Medicine practice on Marquam Hill was an educational...
By William North, CEO, Rogue Community Health, and OPCA Board Member If ever there was a time for community health centers to renew our commitment to “the good work” and get our advocacy act together, it is now. "The early neighborhood health center model targeted the roots...
A correction from the author: The original version of this blog post was inaccurate and disingenuous in two ways: First, it claimed the work of individuals—primarily people of color—as departmental work. The truth is many have done this work on their own time, without pay or explicit...
2019-20 OPCA ANNUAL AWARD FOR GROWTH Share your name, position, and CHC: As the CEO for Valley Family Health Care, Tim Heinze is proud to acknowledge this Growth Award of Excellence from OPCA on behalf of the entire Leadership Team. Leaders named in the award nomination...
White Bird Clinic in Eugene is receiving increased attention as communities around the world discuss police reform in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Its CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) program is being hailed as an example of an innovative community...
By Katrina Ratzlaff, Director of Community Engagement, Wallace After Amanda (name changed to protect privacy) left an unhealthy relationship, she lived in her truck for over a year. With no place to call home, her struggles with stressful life events and alcohol seemed almost hopeless. On...
By Karen Elliott, Development Director, Rogue Community Health Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people in southern Oregon struggled with food insecurity. For the past three years, Rogue Community Health Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been delivering food boxes to its members. CHWs...