Shawnee Health Service is proud to celebrate National Health Center Week 2020 from August 9 – August 15. National Health Center Week is an annual celebration with the goal of raising awareness about the mission and accomplishments of America’s health centers over the past five decades. National Health Center Week 2020 will be celebrated both in person and virtually this year, elevating the work that Community Health Centers have done while fighting on the front lines of COVID-19 to keep our communities healthy and safe.
Shawnee Health Service provides integrated primary medical and behavioral health care, dental care, and specialty care to southern Illinoisans regardless of ability to pay. Community Health Centers, like Shawnee Health Service, are not just healers, we are innovators who look beyond medical charts to address the factors that may cause poor health, such as poverty, homelessness, substance use, mental illness, lack of nutrition, and unemployment.
While COVID-19 continues to exacerbate social and medical inequities across the country, Community Health Centers have stretched themselves to reconfigure services for those in need. Shawnee Health Service has pivoted to serving our community through telehealth, drive-through COVID-19 testing with interpretation services on site, and distribution of emergency resources, while still ensuring our patients can access the medical care that they need.
Since its inception in 1971, Shawnee Health Service has worked to improve the health and welfare of southern Illinois residents through the promotion, development and administration of quality, comprehensive health and social services. Shawnee Health Service believes that quality health care is a right, and continuously strives to ensure that patients receive the highest quality health care without regard to age, race, religion, sex, financial status, or where they live.