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The Health Environment of Our Community  The Community Health Centers of Southern Iowa began as a new start up
community health center April 1, 2005 with a Federal Grant of
$650,000. Opening first in Leon in a former nursing home owned by
Decatur County Hospital and leased to CHCSI, we secured a site in
Lamoni for our second clinic. We are a Federally funded health center which is expected to provide health services to underserved populations. This includes all people who face barriers in accessing services because they have difficulty paying for services, because they have language or cultural differences, or because there is an insufficient number of health professionals/resources available in their community. Decatur County is the poorest in Iowa - and designated as one of the 50 poorest in the United States. The unemployment rate exceeds the state average. Decatur County is composed primarily of low income white farm families. The most populous minority, Hispanic, has a population of 148. Another distinct cultural group is a growing Amish community with over 250. Over 16% of county residents are elderly. Nearly 18% of the population is disabled. In all of the following health disparity factors, Decatur County lags behind its comparision group:
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Cancer Rate