The New Colossus

In my previous blog entry I wrote that community health centers provide comprehensive care. For my final entry, I’d like to focus on recipients of that care- our patients.

When I was in elementary school, I had to learn the final lines of Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus” which is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

While the words originally reflected the state of immigrants to our country, I feel that they also reflect the physical and emotional states of many of people who I see each day. Community health centers serve as harbors for people who have an unmet need for health care.

· We provide care to people who don’t have insurance, and those who do.
· We provide care to people who are very young, those who very old, and everyone in between.
· We provide care to people regardless of their sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or political affiliation.
· We provide care to people who are very healthy, and those who are very ill.
· We provide care to people who are looking for employment, and those who have jobs.
· We provide care to people who live within walking distance, and those who come from over an hour away.
· We provide care to people who are living under the federal poverty line, and those who are living well above the national average.


There is no typical patient in community health care because we see EVERYBODY. Our waiting room is a cross section of the area in which we live, and as a result, we are able to effect changes that are felt in all aspects of the community. We provide care for our neighbors, our friends, our relatives and ourselves. When new patients come to our practice, I freely tell them that my husband, son and I are all patients here. I share this not only to let the patients know that they will receive excellent care here, but that like them, I am a member of this community, and like them, I belong here, too.

So, what more can I say about choosing a career in community health care? If you are tired of denying access to potential patients because they don’t have an insurance accepted by your practice, then come on. If you are frustrated because your patients are having to choose between seeing you, and affording prescriptions, then come on. If you have ever felt pressured to see more patients in order to meet an unrealistic goal based on numbers, and not people, then come on? If you simply want to do something worthwhile with your time and talents, then come on.

After all, community health offers a harbor to providers too. So, come on!