News Release

October 21, 2014

Contact: Chris DeFrancesco, 860-679-3914

Email: cdefrancesco@uchc.edu

Community Health Fairs Emphasize Prevention

UConn Marks National Primary Care Week

FARMINGTON, CONN. – UConn medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy students are participating in community health fairs across the state as part of National Primary Care Week.

UConn is observing Primary Care Week October 18-24. This year’s theme is “We Are Not Yet Equal: Primary Care Advocacy for Underserved and Marginalized Communities.”

UConn Health Profession students, physician assistant students from Quinnipiac University, and community clinicians also are taking part in the health fairs, which are scheduled the afternoon of Wednesday, October 22.

At the community health fairs, students will provide free flu shots, blood pressure and blood glucose screenings as well as preventive health education materials for oral health, nutrition, medication interaction, heart health and diabetes prevention at the following locations and times:

1. Mansfield Senior Center, Mansfield (1 to 3:30 p.m.)
2. North End Senior Wellness Center, Hartford (12:45 to 4 p.m.)
3. Hispanic Senior Center, Hartford (12:45 to 4 p.m.)
4. Dixwell-Newhallville Senior Center, New Haven (1 to 4 p.m.)
5. United Community Services Center, Norwich (1:30 to 4 p.m.)
6. Community Health Services, Hartford (1:30 to 4 p.m.)
7. Community Health Center, Inc., Meriden (1:30 to 4 p.m.)
8. Hartford Public Library, Hartford (1:30 to 4 p.m.)
9. Other UConn Primary Care Week events include:

A dinner at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church (814 Asylum Ave., Hartford) with Keynote speaker Connecticut State Healthcare Advocate, Victoria Veltri, J.D., L.L.M. Monday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m.

“Lunch and Learn” sessions from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. on Oct. 21, 23 and 24, simultaneously at the UConn Health campus in Farmington, the Storrs Campus and Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

“The health care system in the United States and even Connecticut, the land of steady habits, is changing at an unprecedented rate, and that shift is toward primary care and the patient-centered medical home as a building block for high-quality, efficient, and affordable health care,” says Dr. Bruce E. Gould, associate dean for primary care at the UConn School of Medicine and director of the Connecticut Area Heath Education Center. “The need for primary care providers, boots on the ground, will skyrocket as the Accountable Care Act kicks in, and our uninsured find themselves with coverage. Events that highlight and celebrate primary care and its role in the health care system, like National Primary Care Week, assist educators in recruiting the best and brightest to the primary care disciplines.”

Primary Care Week is an observance in celebration of the contributions of primary care to community health. It aims to introduce health professions students to the importance of community-responsive primary care, encourage their collaboration as members of future primary health care teams, and to work to reduce problems in healthcare access experienced by underserved populations in the United States.

Institutions throughout the country observe National Primary Care Week, with the dates varying by school. The national effort is a collaboration of the Area Health Education Centers, the American Medical Student Association, and the Health Resources and Services Administration in Washington.

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

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