2012
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 12-014
       
       
       BY SENATOR(S) Aguilar, Steadman, Boyd, Foster, Guzman, Johnston,
       Mitchell, Nicholson, Roberts, Spence, White, Bacon, Brophy, Cadman,
       Carroll, Giron, Grantham, Harvey, Heath, Hodge, Hudak, Jahn, King K.,
       King S., Lambert, Lundberg, Morse, Neville, Newell, Renfroe, Scheffel,
       Schwartz, Tochtrop, Williams S., Shaffer B.;
       also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Gardner B., Swalm, Szabo, Jones, Kefalas,
       Kerr A., Todd, Acree, Balmer, Barker, Baumgardner, Becker, Beezley,
       Brown, Casso, Conti, Coram, Court, DelGrosso, Duran, Ferrandino,
       Fields, Fischer, Gerou, Hamner, Holbert, Hullinghorst, Joshi, Kerr J.,
       Labuda, Lee, Levy, Liston, Looper, Massey, McCann, McKinley,
       Miklosi, Murray, Nikkel, Pabon, Pace, Peniston, Priola, Ramirez, Ryden,
       Schafer S., Scott, Singer, Solano, Sonnenberg, Soper, Summers,
       Swerdfeger, Tyler, Vaad, Vigil, Waller, Williams A., Wilson, Young,
       McNulty.
       
       
          CONCERNING COLORADO'S COMMUNITY HEALTH
       CENTERS. 
       
       
          WHEREAS, Maintaining public health in Colorado communities is
       essential to the welfare of all residents of this state; and
       
          WHEREAS, Under the banner of the Colorado Community Health
       Network, community health centers provide a health care home to more
       than 500,000 of their community members - one in ten Colorado citizens 
       - from fifty-seven of the state's sixty-four counties, through fifteen
       community health centers operating 131 clinic sites; and   
       
          WHEREAS, More than 192,359 children received primary health care
       from community health centers in 2010; and
       
          WHEREAS, Colorado's community health centers reduce overall
       health care costs by providing primary and preventive health care services
       that reduce emergency room visits, result in fewer hospital admissions
       and shorter stays, and reduce occurrences of low birth-weight,
       prematurity, infant mortality, and childhood mortality; and
       
          WHEREAS, Colorado's community health centers are recognized
       nationally as patient-centered medical homes and are working to
       transform the health care delivery system through the Medicaid
       Accountable Care Collaborative; and
       
          WHEREAS, Colorado's community health centers provide a health
       care or medical home to one-third of Colorado's low-income uninsured,
       one-third of Medicaid enrollees, and one-third of CHP+ enrollees; and
       
          WHEREAS, Community health centers create jobs, employing more
       than 3,300 Coloradans directly, many of whom are residents of
       low-income communities; and
       
          WHEREAS, Community health centers are cost-effective,
       high-quality health care providers that make a difference in the health of
       Coloradans through initiatives and outreach programs, focusing on areas
       such as women's health, immunization, safety net medical homes, and
       cardiovascular disease and hypertension; now, therefore,
       
          Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly of
       the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:
       
          (1)  That we, the members of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly,
       hereby extend to the state's community health centers our sincere
       appreciation for providing cost-effective, high-quality, comprehensive
       primary health care to one in ten people in Colorado; and
       
          (2)  That we declare February 15, 2012, to be "Community Health
       Center Day" in Colorado.
       
                    Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to
       President Barack Obama; Governor John Hickenlooper; Kathleen
       Sebelius, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human
       Services; and Mary K. Wakefield, Administrator of  the United States
       Health Resources and Services Administration.
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Brandon C. Shaffer                     Frank McNulty
       PRESIDENT OF                    SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES
       
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Cindi Markwell                        Marilyn Eddins
       SECRETARY OF                CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES