Article by Dr. Carolyn Chu

Video (Real format)

1) This film was made in 1969-1970 by medical students and film students at the Delta Health Center, Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Mississippi.

2) The central theme of this 22-minutes documentary is the use of health services to address the social determinants of health and develop community empowerment.

3) The Delta Health Center, the first community health center proposed in the nation, is still flourishing after more than 40 years. It is now owned and operated by the North Bolivar County Health Council, which was chartered in 1966 as a nonprofit health and community development corporation. A large new health center building was completed in the 1970s and several satellite centers were opened in Bolivar and Sunflower counties.

4) The North Bolivar County Farm Coop produced many hundreds of tons of vegetables each year. It is still in existence, although in more limited form.

5) Bridget, the little girl with encephalitis shown in the film, subsequently recovered completely.

6) L.C. Dorsey, the farm co-op director, completed her high school equivalency in a program at the health center, and subsequently-skipping college-was admitted to a graduate school of social work, graduating with honors. She then earned a Ph.D. in social work at Howard University, a certificate in health management at Johns Hopkins, and returned as the health center's director in the late 1980s.

7) One of the most important health center programs in terms of long-term impact was its Office of Education, designed to help local African American residents obtain admission and scholarship support to prep schools, college, and professional schools. There are now more than 100 such Bolivar County residents in the health professions at every level from technician to physician; this includes MDs, RNs, Clinical Psychologists, Social Workers, Pharmacists, etc., now extending into the "grandchildren" generation. There are now 22 community health centers in Mississippi, and more than 1000 nationally.

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