Community Health Connect is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve specialty care access to people who would otherwise be unable to receive it.
"There is a large part of our community in need of health services," said Carl Hanson, board member of Community Health Connect and associate professor of health sciences at BYU. "Community Health Connect fills that gap and meets that need."
The organization mainly deals with specialty health care, but before people can take advantage of the program, they must have a referral from a primary care doctor; for dental work a self-referral is acceptable.
Starr Stratford, the executive director of Community Health Connect, said the company mainly helps connect people with a doctor or dentist who will provide specialty care. Doctors agree to see a set number of patients for free throughout the year.
The average donation by health care professionals is approximately $500, Stratford said. But that doesn't begin to describe the variance in savings.
In order to qualify for assistance from the non-profit organization, a person must be a Utah county resident and be at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.
Even though one of the requirements is that a person be uninsured, if the person has inadequate insurance, the staff will review the case and still grant care if the person meets the income requirements.
Since about 75 percent of the people who benefited from the program in 2007 were Hispanic, Community Health Connect works closely with other local organizations such as Centro Hispano, the local help center for multi-cultural individuals, especially Spanish-speaking residents.
The organization provides a weekly health forum at Centro Hispano called Dia de Salud.
Community Health Connect also provides weekly blood glucose, blood pressure and vision screenings to Hispanic attendees of the forum. And offer one-on-one mentoring and assistance in disease control and management.
BYU students in the public health program have done internships and class projects at Community Health Connect.
Copyright Brigham Young University 25 Feb 2008
