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by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
As President Obama and the Congress struggle with the challenge of reforming this nation’s broken system of health care, an important element of the solution is aleady working here in Baltimore.
During the 1960s, Ms. Helen Burgess and other residents of Baltimore’s Murphy Homes decided that they needed to have more control over the health care that their families received. With the help of Provident Hospital, they created a community health center in a couple of rooms lent to them by St. Katherine’s Episcopal Church.
Soon, the center's usefulness and popularity had grown to the point that Ms. Burgess and her neighbors were able to rent a larger space at Mondawmin; and, today, aided by leaders like former Senator Larry Young, their organization owns a modern health facility on Division Street called Total Health Care.
"We picked every brick in this building," Ms. Burgess once told me with pride. "We chose every doctor and nurse who works here."
Community control was central to the 1989 legislation that created Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”) like Total Health Care. Helen Burgess is more than a Total Health Care patient. She and other neighborhood residents control its board of directors.
A neighbor whom I will call "Ms. Jones" and her 7 year old daughter, "Susan," could not be more pleased with the care that they are receiving.
"I needed to schedule Susan’s appointments so that she would not have to miss school," Ms. Jones once told me. "The doctor is concerned with the whole child, so she adjusted her schedule to what we needed."
Another patient, whom I will call "Mr. Brown," did not anticipate the quality of care and respect that he would receive when he first came to Total Health Care. Like 45 million other Americans (and nearly one African American in every five), Mr. Brown lacked health insurance.
Nevertheless, Total Health Care provided him with the care and prescription medicine he needed to control his blood pressure at a cost that he could afford.
Because of FQHCs' commitment to providing care on a "sliding scale," no one is denied health care because they lack insurance and cannot afford to pay.
In Baltimore and other "medically underserved" communities across America, 1200 community health centers are advancing one of the most important human rights initiatives of our time. They are providing health care to 18 million Americans, including millions of children like Susan and additional millions of uninsured patients like Mr. Brown.
They are working to eliminate the unacceptable and immoral conditions in our health care system that have made being Black - or being poor - mortality factors.
For example, community health centers have reduced infant low birth weight (a condition associated with increased mortality) in their African American patients. They have significantly expanded the number of women receiving breast cancer examinations; and nearly 90 percent of their African American patients report that their blood pressure is under control.
These health statistics - and other documented successes - support Ms. Jones' testimonial about the care that her daughter is receiving at Total Health Care; and the public policy implications are clear.
When communities control their own health care, the quality and extent of their care improve.
In addition to Total Health Care (410-383-8300), which operates in locations throughout our city, Baltimore is fortunate to have six other federally qualified health centers: Baltimore Medical Health Systems (410-732-8800) and People's Community Health Center (410-467-6040) on the East Side, Chase Brexton Health Services (410-837-2050) and Health Care for the Homeless (410-837-5533) in Mid-Town, Park West Medical Center (410-542-7800) in Northwest Baltimore, and Family Health Centers (410-354-2001) in South Baltimore.
I am doing everything within my power in the Congress to increase the federal support that these essential community institutions receive.
On July 2, I was honored to join Total Health Care Chairwoman Burgess, Maryland Health Secretary John Colmers, Senator Verna Jones and Delegates Ruth Kirk and Melvin Stukes at the health center to announce an American Recovery & Reinvestment Act grant.
The $349,000 in additional federal funds will allow Total Health Care to serve an additional 1589 patients, including more than 400 who cannot afford the high cost of health insurance. In addition to the jobs that this grant will create, the initiative will take pressure off our already overcrowded emergency rooms, reducing the overall cost of care.
In Washington, we would be wise to follow the example of Helen Burgess. She is a practical visionary whose dream of a clinic that would exist to serve her community became a reality.
Other community activists have followed her lead. As a result, Maryland’s Federally Qualified Health Centers served more than 215,000 patients in 2007 - many of whom would otherwise have been denied care.
In the midst of Washington's health care debate, we must not lose sight of the most important reality of all. Human lives are at stake.
Half a century after Ms. Burgess and her neighbors began to regain control of their own health, it is time for the rest of America to do the same.
Affordable, high-quality health care is a fundamental human right. It is time that we made universal care a federal civil right as well.
- The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
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