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Celebrating Community Health Care and the People Who Make It Possible
Tuesday, August 5, 2025This year marks 60 years of Community Health Centers changing lives, and CCC is proud to be part of that legacy. As we celebrate National Health Center Week (NHCW) from August 3 to 9, 2025, we’re reflecting on how far we’ve come, and most importantly, we’re celebrating the amazing people who make it all happen.
What is a Community Health Center?
Federally Qualified Health Centers like CCC (sometimes referred to as Community Health Centers) serve as critical sources of care for people who might otherwise go without. The first Community Health Centers opened in the United States 60 years ago, in 1965. Today, they create affordable health care options for over 32 million people, and exist in every state, US territory, and the District of Columbia.
These health centers are built around a powerful idea: everyone deserves access to high-quality care, regardless of income, insurance status, or background.
At CCC, our health centers are unique. We combine primary care, behavioral health, recovery services, and access to housing and employment services to treat the whole person. Our programs and clinics exist to help people thrive. That’s what makes our work so special, and what makes our staff so essential.
Why It Matters at CCC
The theme of this year’s National Health Center Week is “Celebrating 60 Years of Progress Connections.” At CCC, we know that healing doesn’t just happen through medicine—it happens through connection.
To tell this story, we asked staff to share what connection means to them in the context of healing and recovery. Here are just a few quotes from what we heard:
Michelle, Integrated SUDS Counselor, Primary Care at OTC
“Many of our patients have trauma from past interactions with medical professionals. Making connections through warmth, compassion, and patient empowerment can help build patient trust, and that trust is vital to providing effective care.”
-Michelle, Integrated SUDS Counselor, Primary Care at OTC
Katie, Peer Support Specialist at Flip the Script
“When we’re healing, we’re at our most vulnerable. It can be a frustrating, confusing, and embarrassing time in our lives, it’s a shift in growth. Connecting to others while in this state of mind can be very challenging but incredibly rewarding. It’s how you foster trust and build lasting relationships by sharing what makes you the most afraid and vulnerable. Sometimes this is how you wind up learning and growing with other people. I choose to show up every day and be ready with open arms to connect with others because I know firsthand how it feels to not have somebody willing to listen.”
-Katie, Peer Support Specialist at Flip the Script
Dr. Amanda Risser, Chief Medical Officer
“Someone once told me that when they were homeless, they felt invisible. That folks would look away. That they weren’t even seen. When I go to Hooper and I tell one of my wonderful colleagues there ‘Good to see you!’ they always respond with ‘Good to be seen.’
“For me, when I take care of patients or design programs or support leaders and folks doing the important work we do, I’m always hoping that the folks we serve feel seen and known, that we know things about them that go beyond their diagnosis. That we hold stories about their lives, who they care about, what they like to do, a funny or sad (or both!) story from their childhood, what their dreams are, what their children are like, where they have traveled, what foods are delicious to them.
“There is magical healing power in connection rooted in the science of human neurobiology and supported by research on loneliness and isolation and disease outcomes. Connection is healing.”
Alex, Resident Services Coordinator
“The hardest aspect of addiction is the isolation and separation from the world around me. I cannot radiate sobriety and spirituality without being plugged into a source- much like a lamp, I’m just a decorative hazard without it. CCC is that source.”
-Alex, Resident Services Coordinator
David, CC Staffing Trainee/On Call
“To myself it means having hope to grow and expand as an individual. This consists of reaching out to others, especially like-minded and compassionate individuals. People who share the same common goals and interests. Together we can build a strong and resilient network of support for each other.”
-David, CC Staffing Trainee/On Call
Tara Kirk, Chief Health Services Officer
“I believe connection is at the heart of healing, built through small moments that collect over time. These connections—and the systems that support them—bring healing and hope together. I joined CCC because I believe deeply in creating both, and I try to weave connection into everything I do.”
Support CCC Health Services
Every year, CCC provides comprehensive health care, mental health support and recovery services to nearly 16,000 people in need. Please consider making a donation to ensure our most vulnerable community members have access to life-saving care.
