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Mission • History • Merger FAQ |
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“As we have reflected and prayed in the past year, we believe it would be in the best interest of our patients to become a part of a larger community health center network, Unity Health Care. With this step, we believe CRHS will be able to continue for years to provide health care to the poor.”
–Dr. Janelle Goetcheus, CRHS Founding Medical Director and Unity Health Care Chief Medical Officer
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Who is Unity Health Care? Unity Health Care began as the Health Care for the Homeless project in 1985, with the project’s offices and leadership housed inside CRHS. As the years passed, Health Care for the Homeless expanded and changed its name to Unity Health Care. Now Unity Health Care encompasses a large network of community health centers scattered throughout Washington, DC, as well as health centers in homeless shelters, mobile vans, schools, and the DC jail system. For more information, please visit the Unity website at www.unityhealthcare.org. Why did you merge? After much thought and discussion, the Board of Directors and executive staff of CRHS concluded that CRHS will benefit from a merger with Unity Health Care. Though our status as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) has permitted us to expand and serve more patients, the administrative burden of maintaining our FQHC status has been disproportionate to our small size. Joining Unity Health Care has allowed us to devote more of our resources to patient care. How is CRHS different? CRHS’ mission, operations, and dedication to our patients have continued as before. CRHS has maintained the same programs and model of care, with primary medical care, lab services, social services, and mental health counseling offered under one roof. We have benefitted from Unity’s support resources and infrastructure, including an electronic medical records system that enables our providers to coordinate care across the Unity network. Patients have continued receiving care from their same providers, but they also benefit from an extensive network of specialists and other resources available through Unity Health Care. What will happen to my donation? The need for your support to CRHS patients continues as urgently as ever. Donations that are designated for CRHS will stay exclusively within CRHS and will be used to care for the same patients you have supported for so many years. |
