“Community Health Centers: Lighting the Way for Healthier Communities Today and in the Future”
National Health Center Week (August 9 – 15) is an annual celebration with the goal of raising awareness about the mission and accomplishments of America’s health centers over the past five decades.
Community Health Centers serve as the beacon of strength, service, and care in their communities. In moments of pain and loss, they offer support and love. In moments of triumph, they offer hope and a vision for the future. Let’s come together this week to celebrate the roles Community Health Centers have played in both our recent moments of loss and triumph. This National Health Center Week honors those front line providers, staff, and beloved patients who lost their lives during the (ongoing) COVID-19 pandemic. From the very beginning of the crisis, Community Health Centers began finding innovative ways to provide preventative and primary care to their patients. During this week of remembrance, light a candle for those community health leaders, patients that we lost. As we commemorate those lives and celebrate the future of Community Health, let’s shine a light across the country that will embody the future of primary health care aces for underserved populations. Shine a light on your Community Health Center and share the value that it brings to everyone who it touches.
Each day of NHCW 2020 is dedicated to a particular focus area:
- Sunday, 8/9: Public Health in Housing Day
- Monday, 8/10: Healthcare for the Homeless Day
- Tuesday, 8/11: Agricultural Worker Health Day
- Wednesday, 8/12: Patient Appreciation Day
- Thursday, 8/13: Stakeholder Appreciation Day
- Friday, 8/14: Health Center Staff Appreciation Day
- Saturday, 8/15: Children’s Health Day
We encourage you to consider coordinating your celebrations around the corresponding dates and focus days to showcase the innovative ways that health centers are providing high-quality health care, improving health outcomes, and narrowing health disparities. Your events do not have to coincide exactly with the focus of respective days – much like the NHCW theme, focus days are available to enhance your events and help provide structure at your discretion. Coordinating local efforts around the themes of the focus days helps maximize the national impact of our message.
Mark your calendars for National Health Center Week 2020, August 9 – 15.
