The Long County Diversity Health Center had an open house last week to celebrate Community Health Center Week.

Visitors received tours of the center. The center also served cookies and sodas and gave away door prizes.

“A community health center is an office where the staff provides medical services for those who are uninsured and also for those families who might be underinsured,” center CEO Vicki Smith said.

Regarding health insurance, she said many people don’t understand the differences between being uninsured and underinsured.

“An example of being underinsured is when a person may have health insurance, but due the deductible being so high, they never meet it,” Smith said. “For all practical purposes, they can’t use their insurance, and we would define them as underinsured.”

She said the center provides primary care to both uninsured and underinsured people, and the rates are based on a formula that includes income and household size.

“Let’s say we have a single parent with three kids, and the parent makes $30,000. For this person, if they have a $100 (medical) bill, they would pay $25,” Smith said.

The center also receives funding through federal grants, she said.

Smith said Long County’s center is one of 8,000 across the nation and that all of the centers cater to the specific needs of their communities.

Services include pediatric sick visits, general medicine, acute illness care, family planning, chronic disease management, diabetes care, immunizations and children’s exams, according to Smith.

She said the Long County center opened in 2008 and staffs a full-time doctor, a nurse practitioner, two licensed practical nurses and two patient intake clerks. 

The Long County center works with the one in Liberty County, and both are overseen by a board of directors, with representation from both counties. 

Smith said both centers last year cared for more than 4,000 patients who visited the office more than 10,000 times.
The center is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and until 8 p.m. Wednesday.