Local Healthcare Centers Receive Assistance

A community health care center in the Upper Valley will soon receive much needed additional funding.

Community health centers all throughout Idaho are receiving financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services totaling over $9.5 million dollars.

For Upper Valley Community Health Services in Saint Anthony, providing affordable health care services to those who desperately need it is their daily mission.

“Uninsured, homeless, elderly, people with limited means….we help a lot of people,” said Bob Hodgen, CEO of Upper Valley Community Health Services.

The center is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, allowing doctors to perform X-rays and 3-D sonograms, among other things. The one thing the center is missing? Room for administrators. Officials say with this grant, that will change.

“The big advantage is that it will move the administrative staff out of the clinic, giving more space to patients,” said Hodgen.

Through President Barack Obama’s new health care law — the Affordable Care Act — community healthcare centers like this one all over the state are receiving additional funding. The state of Idaho received more than $9,600,000 in grant money, with $134,000 of that going to Saint Anthony.

St. Anthony isn’t the only town to receive assistance. Community health centers in Twin Falls, Glenns Ferry and Nampa also received grants.