Neighborhood Health Clinics held open house

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Neighborhood Health Clinics will celebrated National Health Center Week with an open house on Wednesday afternoon.

Events included a mayoral proclamation at 11:30, along with tours of the facility, and a look at the architectural drawings for their 8,000 sq. feet expansion. The public also enjoyed free ice cream and could meet Johnny from the TinCaps.

The theme for this year's National Health Center Week is "Celebrating America's Health Centers: Turning the Vision into Reality". Community Health Centers, such as Neighborhood Health Clinics, serve as the family doctor to over 20 million people and have a 45-year record of providing high quality, cost-effective health care. Under the health reform law, community health centers will receive additional funding to expand their capacity to serve 40 million patients across the country.

Neighborhood Health Clinics serves residents of Allen and surrounding counties and provides approximately 40,000 medical visits and over 10,000 dental visits. NHCI also operates the Women's, Infant & Children (WIC) nutritional supplement program that serves more than 14,000 participants in Allen, Dekalb, and Noble County.

"When people have a place to go for regular care, they use it and stay healthy," said Mary Haupert, President and CEO. "We provide a range of services emphasizing primary care and wellness such as adult medical care, pediatrics, prenatal, women's health services, dentistry, and nutrition counseling."

National Health Center Week is sponsored by the National Association of Community Health Centers. To find out more about health centers and their role in health care reform, please visit www.nachc.com .