In collaboration with our partners at Central Health, CommUnityCare is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides outpatient primary health care, dental care, pediatric, specialty care, lab, radiology including mammography, a full-service pharmacy, and behavioral health services. With the addition of Carousel Pediatrics in 2018, we now offer pediatric dental care and mental health, speech, physical and occupational therapy for children.
With our emphasis on serving underserved health care populations, we also provide HIV/AIDS treatment and primary care to HIV-positive patients at many of our locations, including the David Powell Health Center.
Other specialty care includes health services for people who are experiencing homelessness, with locations at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) and Care Connections Clinic, along with Street Medicine teams.
Our services are provided to Travis County residents and those residing in surrounding counties, including people whose income and lack of private health insurance prevent them from accessing care elsewhere.
With more than 1,200 team members, CommUnityCare is committed to focusing on the whole patient with a team-based approach. Our goal is to provide easy-to-obtain, comprehensive and coordinated whole-person care.
As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), our practice has met strict guidelines established by the Federal Bureau of Primary Health Care. This designation allows us to provide excellent care at a reduced cost. It also requires that our board of directors is at least 51% current patients. Having a patient-led board helps ensure that we remain closely connected and accountable to the communities we serve.
Travis County has an estimated 172,000 uninsured residents, 19.3% of its population. Many of these residents have great difficulty accessing basic primary and preventive health care. In Travis County, CommUnityCare clinics provide approximately half of local safety net primary care services, making us the largest provider for these services in the area.
Our status as an FQHC is held jointly by CommUnityCare and Central Health, the limited-purpose taxing district responsible for providing health care to indigent people living in Travis County. Central Health provides most of the funding for the operation of the CommUnityCare centers, and owns many (cq?) of the clinics that CommUnityCare manages. This partnership has helped ensure that we have accessible locations that are responsive to the countys demographic changes, and that we have close connections with the areas safety net hospitals and UT Austins Dell Medical School.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an expanded recall of Abbott Nutritions baby formula warning families not to use certain powdered infant formulas over bacterial contamination concerns.
As of February 28, the FDA states that there have been four total reports of Cronobacter infections and one complaint of a Salmonella infection. All five of the reported illnesses, which include cases in Texas, have led to hospitalization and may have contributed to the death of two of the infants.
According to healthychildren.org Cronobacter is a bacteria that can cause a life-threatening infection called sepsis and meningitis which is an inflammation around the brain and spine. Salmonella can cause stomach and intestinal illness.
If you are a parent and your babys formula is recalled healthychildren.org advises you take it in store for an exchange or refund. It is also advised that you contact your pediatrician if you are worried about switching formulas. CommUnityCare pediatricians are ready to assist and answer any questions for parents who are concerned over which formula is safe.
For more answers to commonly asked questions such as what to do if you cant find a formula in stock due to the pandemic, other ways bacteria can spread while feeding your baby, or special considerations for premature babies visit healthychildren.org.