WASHINGTON The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today informed U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) that the Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) of Cranston will receive $643,500 to help low-income Rhode Islanders, including many without health insurance, obtain comprehensive primary health care services.The Health Center Grant will enable CCAP to maintain its new full time Everett C. Wilcox Health Center in Warwick which opened in 2004. It will also help allow CCAP to expand services into desperately needed areas, such as dental care, as well as increase the number of Rhode Islanders served. In 2004, Reed wrote two letters to then HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson in support of CCAPs grant request. We need to ensure that when people get sick, they have access to health care, Reed stated. The Comprehensive Community Action Program does an excellent job providing those services to Rhode Islanders who have limited or no access to health care, and I am happy to see it receive this important funding. CCAP has been providing medical care since 1972, serving a growing economically distressed population, including almost 36,000 residents at their original health center in Cranston, and satellite facilities in Coventry and Warwick.Twenty-seven percent of CCAP patients are uninsured and 61 percent have public health insurance coverage with 93 percent of patients living below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. CCAP has focused on expanding services to the underserved Cambodian community, a growing Hispanic population and a large proportion of elderly residents. The grant is funded through the HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center program.Health centers deliver preventive and primary care services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Charges for health care services are set according to income.