Each year, hundreds of Health Center Advocates submit their pictures and videos celebrating the amazing work their Health Center does! The NHCW Picture & Video Contests  are an opportunity to use creativity to garner national attention for your Health Center. Start thinking today about the pictures (both photos and drawings) and video that best represent the work your Health Center does and how you will celebrate National Health Center Week 2015! Shown is one of last year’s winners, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center – Boston, MA by Emma Taddoe.

Then, submit a picture and/or video to the NHCW Picture & Video Contests in August 2015 for a chance to win a NHCW 2016 sponsorship, a chance to be featured in the 2016 NHCW Calendar, and other awesome prizes. This year is the 50th Anniversary of the Health Centers Program, so pictures and videos that celebrate the history of Health Centers are encouraged!

Over 1,100 events around the country are planned as part of National Health Center Week (NHCW). The national campaign runs August 9 through 15, with the goal of raising awareness about the mission and accomplishments of America’s Health Centers over the course of five decades.

One of the bright spots in America’s healthcare system, health centers started 50 years ago as a pilot project during President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Today, they have compiled a significant record of success that includes:

• Reducing income and ethnic health disparities nationwide, even in the poorest and most challenged communities
• Reducing infant mortality rates
• Producing $24 billion in annual health system savings
• Reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the emergency rooms
• Maintaining patient satisfaction levels of nearly 100 percent
• Generating $26.5 billion in economic activity. $11 is generated in total economic activity for every $1 of federal funding

There are NHCW events scheduled across the country, including health fairs, visits by Members of Congress and state officials to a local health center, press conferences, back-to-school drives, community breakfasts, patient appreciation events, free health screenings and dental cleanings, and much more. There are also designated dates during NHCW celebrating Public Housing Health Centers Day (Tuesday, 8/11), Health Care for the Homeless Day (Wednesday, 8/12), and Farmworker Health Day (Thursday, 8/13).

Benco Dental, the nation’s largest privately owned dental distribution company, is among sponsors of the weeklong celebration.

To learn more about NHCW and the listing of events, visit: www.healthcenterweek.org.

You can also follow the conversation using #NHCW15 on Twitter.