Hidden Health Care Resource

A hidden resource for health care help is already helping more than 60 thousand people in El Paso County. Peak Vista Community Health Center is a lifeline for one Colorado Springs family I talked with Friday morning. Vincent Yorke tells me, “Without it, I’d go without basic medical care, so it’s been a real blessing for me and my family.” Yorke is self employed, married with a stay at home wife who home-schools their three children.

Yorke is self employed and makes under 30 thousand dollars per year. He tells me, “I was looking at the budget where we can spend our money and insurance was moving farther and farther down the scale.”

Peak Vista L.P.N., Shelley Rivera told me, “There are patients who come in who have never had any kind of care and then they have some devastating information that’s given to them. This service is really important and we are really very fortunate in this community to have this.”

Peak Vista is among 15 Community Health Centers that are in high need areas throughout the state. These health experts care for patients in 58 counties. It’s funded by a mix of donations, federal and state funding. You’ll recall on Monday, I told you about a new health department report. It indicated 13 percent of El Paso County residents don’t have public or private health insurance.