Marin City Health and Wellness Center with Ritter Center Awarded HRSA New Access Point Grant

Aug. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- August 11, 2011, Marin City, California – The Marin City Health and Wellness Center (MCHWC), in partnership with the Ritter Center, is pleased to announce that it has been earmarked to receive a grant of $541,667 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) section of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
On August 9, 2011, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that $28.8 million, made available by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, was awarded to 67 community health centers across the United States. Marin City Health and Wellness Center was one of the new sites chosen, from a highly competitive group of over 800 applicants, for an award.
In the words of Dr. Curtis Robinson, Executive Director of the Marin City Health and Wellness Center: “This grant will help us to improve and expand access to primary health care, mental health care and dental care services, for low income and uninsured individuals and families in Marin County.”  
“We won this grant because of an extraordinary collaboration with Marin City Health and Wellness Center.   We are thankful for the support of Marin community leaders, dedicated health professionals and staff, our current funders, and local, state and federal elected officials” said Diane Linn, Executive Director, Ritter Center.
“With this New Access Point grant, our clinics join Marin Community Clinics and Coastal Health Alliance as Federally Qualified Health Centers in Marin County to better serve the community.  These are new federal dollars coming into the County of Marin .” said Dr. Darren Lipshitz, President of the Marin City Health and Wellness Board of Directors, and Medical Director at Ritter Center Health Clinic.
The federal grant designation opens the door for MCHWC and Ritter Center to receive increased reimbursement rates from the federal government for providing health services to under and uninsured residents.  Funds can now be leveraged from local donors such as the Marin General Hospital, Marin Community Foundation, and County of Marin and Milagro Foundation, all of which number among our current funders to increase desperately needed health and mental health care to the most vulnerable in the community.
MCHWC has been delivering comprehensive, state-of-the-art, culturally competent, quality primary health care services to the residents of Marin City and Southern Marin County, since 2006.  The Ritter Center has been providing supplementary food and clothing, primary health care, behavioral health, financial assistance and other social services supports to the homeless and working poor families and individuals in Marin County for over 30 years.

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Ritter Center provides services for the homeless and working poor in Marin County. Located in San Rafael. They have been serving Marin County for over 30 years.