Health Centers *

During the past twenty years, rapid strides have been made in the advancement of preventive medicine and community health work. With this development has come an increasing recognition of the value of bringing public health work close to the people. Several state and local health departments, in cooperation with medical societies and non-official health and welfare agencies, are giving serious consideration to the opportunities of assuring greater health protection through the health center plan, and are studying local problems with a view to sound methods of organizing their resources. A health center is a community agency engaged primarily in preventive medicine and public health education, centering around an organization of physicians, health workers, and laymen. It aims to reach all people within a district who need the services, and to coordinate the health, and often the recreation and social service activities, of the area.