Lessons from a community health center
Posted: December 20, 2017
Students from A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) recently visited Adelante and Mountain Park community health centers. Led by ATSU’s vice president of community partnerships, Gary Cloud, PhD, MBA, the group of 70 toured the facilities for a Dentistry in the Community class.
Adelante and Mountain Park community health centers offer comprehensive care, treating the whole person while delivering services that meet the unique cultural and health needs of their patients. As nonprofit organizations, Adelante and Mountain Park community health centers are not focused on treating as many patients as possible, but instead focus on working with each patient to get well, be well, and live well.
This is the first year that a tour has been part of the curriculum. The day included an introduction to the history of community health centers by Dr. Cloud, followed by tours of each site.
Avery Bingham, a third-year student at ATSU-ASDOH, was impressed with the variety of services offered by community health centers. “It was nice to see that everything a person needs is under one roof,” Bingham says. “I could definitely see myself working in a community health center.”