Letter: Mountain Family praise

Last week was National Health Center Week. West Mountain Regional Health Alliance would like to recognize our local federally qualified health center, Mountain Family Health Centers. Mountain Family makes a huge difference in our region, serving more than 14,000 community members and demonstrating results such as lower health-care costs, healthier people, more jobs and reduced hospital visits, to name just a few.

Mountain Family Health Centers’ lives its mission, “To provide high quality, integrated primary medical, behavioral, and dental health care in the communities we serve, with special consideration for the medically underserved, regardless of ability to pay.” Members of Congress do agree on: the importance of community health centers to our U.S. health care system. The health centers program earned bipartisan support by proving time and time again (over the course of more than 50 years) that it is possible not only to have a federal program that works for the people it serves, but delivers the return on public investment.

Please take a moment to congratulate and support Mountain Family Health Centers on its efforts for our community. West Mountain Regional Health Alliance’s mission is to build an integrated health-care system to achieve optimal health for all people in our region. Mountain Family Health Centers is one key partner in creating this health-care system to better serve the individuals in our community.

Cristina Gair

Executive director, West Mountain Regional Health Alliance

Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties