Safety Net Clinic Week is an annual, week-long celebration in mid-August to highlight the innovative community-based health care that is giving Kansans in need the chance to lead healthy, productive lives. Safety net clinics provide comprehensive medical, dental, and behavioral health care to approximately 1 in 10 Kansans. In some communities, safety net clinics are the only Medicaid providers, and in some communities safety net clinics are the largest employers. For all these reasons and more, we celebrate Safety Net Clinic Week with a variety of activities statewide.
Safety Net Clinic Week in Kansas is celebrated in concurrence with National Health Center Week – the recognition of Community, Migrant, Homeless, and Public Housing Health Centers nationwide. Health centers began as a pilot project during President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Their more than 50-year record of success not only includes preventing illness in underserved populations, but also moving beyond traditional medicine to provide innovative whole-person solutions to correlational health indicators, such as lack of nutrition, mental illness, homelessness, and addiction.