“Opening Doors to Women’s Health”
In December 2007 Future Choices focuses on women's health care in Westchester County, NY, and specifically on the services offered by Open Door Family Medical Centers.
In this program, “Opening Doors to Women’s Health,” Lindsay Farrell, CEO & President of Open Door Family Medical Centers in Westchester County, makes it very clear that by providing dignified, quality health care to the poorest of Westchester County’s women and their families, we ensure better health and well-being for all families in our community.
Background:
A carefully researched report card released mid-October by the National Women's Law Center and the Oregon Health and Science University documents that women's health care in this country is “unsatisfactory” overall. The report card, titled "Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card" reveals that Not one of the 50 states received a "satisfactory" grade in women's health. And comparison with previous years’ report cards indicate health care available to women is getting worse. See full U.S. report card.
Commonsense would say that Westchester, one of the richest counties in the nation, should be able to ensure adequate health care for all women. Sadly this is not the case. In essence we see 2 tiers of health care – one for women of means and a very different one for those without. Despite the best efforts of the public health sector*, huge gaps in women’s health care still persist in our neighborhoods.
In the face of such unpleasant evidence of the decline in health care available to families without substantial financial means, Ms. Farrell's presentation to Future Choices is refreshingly upbeat. She asserts that "health care is a right and not a privilege.
- We believe in diversity and respect cultural and linguistic differences.
- We believe that healthy families are at the foundation of civil society.
- We believe that healthy individuals contribute to community success.
Open Door's team of skilled practitioners — including board-certified ObGyns and nurse midwives, practically all of whom are bi-lingual — respond to the strongly felt need for family planning as well as pre-natal care in the Hispanic communities in Westchester County where their clinics are located.
Open Door's outreach and education efforts which brings Port Chester school children and nurse practitioners together in a relaxed atmosphere helps nurture healthy habits at an early age and brings basic health care to students right in their school community.
Based on her experiences as a mother and as a public health executive,Lindsay Farrell understands the need for more primary care practices. See her March 2007 article in The Journal News, Lindsay Farrell: A call for resurgence in primary care.
More about Lindsay Farrell.
More about Open Door Medical Clinics
- Over 96% of our patients have incomes at or below 200% of the poverty line.
- 44% of our patients have no health insurance of any kind.
- 74% of our senior patients have been immunized against flu and pneumonia - 14% above the national goal.
- Over a third of the AIDS patients in central Westchester receive care at our facilities.