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HHS funds women’s health centers
By Jill Braden Balderas
Health24News
September 20, 2000


	You've read the article. Now tell us what you think. Related Sites National Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health Office of Women’s Health

Washington (H24N). Community health centers designed to meet the needs of women with minimal access to health care will be created under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency announced today. Called the National Community Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health (CCOEs), they will incorporate health services with research and emphasize outreach within the community.

"These women-focused programs will integrate, coordinate and strengthen linkages between health and social service agencies in communities to provide comprehensive, seamless care to women across their lifespan," explained HHS Secretary Donna Shalala in a statement. "They underscore our continuing commitment to empower communities to reduce the fragmentation of services and access barriers that women encounter when trying to find quality health care."

The first three centers will be awarded $150,000 each at the end of this month. In Missouri, the Northeast Missouri Health Council will run a rural system that focuses on Hispanic women in eight counties. In New York, the St. Barnabas Hospital and Healthcare System in the Bronx will aim primarily to service uninsured women in the Bronx and surrounding communities. The Arizona program will target Mexican-American women in an effort improve their health-care options in the area.

CCOE programs are based on HHS’s National Centers of Women’s Health (CoEs), which are a part of the Office on Women’s Health (OWH). "The success of the CoE program taught us that we really can change the way health care is delivered to women by integrating all of the important aspects of clinical services, health education and research into one institution," said Wanda Jones, director of OHW. "It is now important to offer that kind of support to the community hospital, clinic or local health care center to better meet the needs of women in underserved areas."

The Office on Women’s Health has plans to fund three new CCOEs each year until a total of 15 have been created.