08.28.15

Durbin Announces Federal Investment in Health Care Services in Quincy

 QUINCY, IL – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that many seniors and low-income families in and around Quincy will soon see expanded access to health care services as the result of a federal investment of $650,000 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to Preferred Family Healthcare (PFH).  The grant will help PFH, a federally qualified health care center (FQHC), create a community health center in Quincy, providing a much-needed medical home to medically-underserved populations.  Earlier this year, Durbin called the Acting Administrator of HRSA, Jim Macrae to lend his support for PFH’s proposal and sent a letter of support.

“For decades, many of Quincy’s low-income families and citizens have struggled with limited access to quality healthcare. This new facility will help address that disparity and provide much-needed care to low-income seniors and families close to home – on site at Indian Hills public housing and at the Quincy Senior and Family Resource Center,” Durbin said. “I was proud to support this promising project and am pleased the Preferred Family Healthcare won this well-deserved federal grant.”


PFH conducted more than 400 interviews in Quincy as it prepared its grant application and found that 38 percent of those individuals with incomes under $15,000 could not see a dentist in the last 12 months due to cost.  Members of the community indicated that dental services can have a year wait list.  They found that nearly 30 percent of this population reported a significant mental illness and that while more than 20 percent of the population in its Quincy service area is enrolled in Medicaid, many of these individuals have difficulty accessing a Medicaid provider for primary care, and oral and behavioral health care.

PFH runs more than 30 community health centers and small clinics in Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. The Quincy location, which is the company’s only facility in Illinois, provides substance abuse treatment and outpatient primary care for a service area of 68,000 people.

 

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