Madison—A $600,000 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) grant to Bayfield County will result in the opening of the state’s 17th community health center, which will extend primary health care services to more than 3,000 of the region’s lowest-income residents annually. The center will be eligible to receive ongoing financial support from the state and federal governments.

“News of the opening of this center could not come at a more critical time,” said State Senator Bob Jauch (D-Poplar). “Residents of northwestern Wisconsin – particularly those who are Medicaid eligible – are finding it increasingly difficult to access primary health services. This center should make great progress towards alleviating that need.”

Bayfield County was recently designated one of the 200 poorest counties in the nation. That designation, though distressing, made it possible for the County – led by the Bayfield County Community Health Center Board, a community-based Board of health professionals – to apply to the federal government for funding for a new center. Bayfield County was one of just 74 counties nationwide to be awarded a grant. Funding will be received in early September 2007 with the expectation that the center will be operational by January 2008.

“The receipt of the DHHS implementation grant is a wonderful opportunity for the community,” said Pat Sheridan, Board President. “We have a strong and engaged board that is up to the task of getting a clinic open in 120 days.”

In addition to the Board’s leadership, the new Bayfield center will be supported by a wide network of area health information centers and providers, including the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association, the Office of Rural Health through the UW School of Medicine and the Northern Wisconsin Area Health Education Center.

“The establishment of this new clinic illustrates the important role that these health centers play in communities across the state,” said Jauch. “My hope is that it will also highlight the importance of increasing state support to these clinics so that they can meet a growing need.”

The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee and the State Senate each approved a $3 million increase for community health centers in the biennial state budget, the first since the state began providing support for the centers in 1999. The Assembly budget did not include funding for an increase. The special, bipartisan Committee on Conference, of which Jauch is a member, is now charged with finding compromise on the numerous differences between the two budgets, including the funding increase for community health centers.

Parallel to efforts at the state level to increase funding for community health centers, Congressman Dave Obey (D-Wausau) is pressing Congress to increase funding for centers at the federal level.

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