Commission on the Public’s Health System

Access to health care services is particularly difficult for the uninsured who live in low-income, medically underserved communities.

As a result, many children and their families are left without access to primary care and preventive services. The Child Health Initiative sought to underscore the importance of Child Health Clinics by providing access to primary and preventive health care in medically underserved areas, and to advertise their existence to low-income, immigrant families of color.

Access to health care services is difficult for low-income, medically under-served communities. Many children and their families do not have a “medical home” to ensure access to primary care and preventive services. Child health clinics have an important role in local accessibility to services; however, the number of clinics has significantly dwindled over the last 30 years. On November 8, 2007, the Commission on the Public’s Health System launched a campaign that began a year-long celebration of the city’s child health clinics’ 100th anniversary by forming five active borough-wide coalitions.

The campaign’s overall goal is to involve elected officials, health care providers, community organizations, and parents and their children in the development of a child/family health agenda for New York City. The coalitions will work to expand coverage and increase access to care for underserved children in New York City by planning outreach events throughout the year. At the end of the project year, there will be an organization in each borough working with local groups (including schools and religious institutions) to organize events at child health clinics, screen children for insurance, and offer health care services for children who have no “medical home.” A committee will be formed to develop a child/family health policy agenda, and to collaborate work with the borough committees to ensure the agenda is reflective of community residents’ needs. This agenda will be presented to elected officials, policy makers, and organizations and will help inform ongoing work on budget and planning issues. This project hopes to build support for the child health clinics, highlight the need for expanding primary and preventive health care services, and engage the community in developing the policy agenda.