In Colorado, we’re lucky to still have some of the original Community Health Center (CHC) founders and visionaries of the movement on staff.
Jerry Brasher helped found Salud Family Health Centers (then Plan de Salud del Valle) which opened as one small site in a converted onion warehouse in 1970, in Fort Lupton, Colorado. Today Salud has grown to ten clinics – mostly north and east of Denver. Brasher was also there to help begin Colorado Community Health Network in 1982 to help all federally-funded health centers in Colorado work together on their common mission.
Brasher, Executive Director, continues to work at Salud Family Health Centers, and last month traveled to Washington, DC with other CHC leaders from around the United States. While there, he met with members of the Obama Administration to discuss quality and policy issues that affect care at CHCs across the United States. They discussed issues from expanding care to new communities, the importance of realistic payment for services, and how the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) approach to care at CHCs is improving care across the board.
Why has Brasher committed his life to working at Salud? He says that “no one is denied service because of lack of funds. That is our cornerstone.”
Having people like Jerry Brasher in Colorado helps all 15 Colorado CHCs hold onto their shared history as they continue pushing forward into the future of health care. Brasher is just one of the many active community health visionaries who work at Colorado CHCs. Employees of community health centers enjoy where they work and what they do, and continue to drive the vision of health care, regardless of income, forward.
Would you like to work in community health? Learn more about what other
employees of CHCs are saying here, or search for CHC Jobs on the CHAMPS Job Board. For more on the history of CHCs in Colorado, visit www.cchn.org.
