June 21, 2001 marked the 1-year anniversary for the grand opening of the nation's first-ever Men's Health Center. Located in the Sandtown-Winchester community of Baltimore, Maryland, the Men's Health Center is a full-service primary care facility that provides health care at no charge to uninsured males, ages 19 to 64. While some policymakers and providers may question separate services for men, none have been able to determine how to combat the excessive and unacceptable levels of morbidity and mortality that plague the lives of poor men and men of color. The current systems evidently do a less than adequate job of marketing to men, or they are designed and operated in a way that does not engender trust or provide a safe space and place for health and healing.

The Center, established with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Vision for Health, the Baltimore Community Voices site; and the Baltimore City Health Department, operates under the motto, "Building Healthy Families One Man at a Time." Its primary focus has been on closing the gap of health care disparity among metropolitan Baltimore's male residents, and its accomplishments to date suggest that the Center has been successful in that endeavor. Men come from across the city in search of culturally sensitive, appropriate care that is delivered in a caring and supportive manner. Many of the men seen have rarely or never received treatment for their illnesses and do not engage in preventive screening to maintain health. They have no insurance. They have little hope that a system designed for all will serve them, but they are giving the Men's Health Center one last chance to meet them where they are, to listen to them, to treat them with respect and dignity, and not to judge or stereotype them. They are treated as the individuals they are: brothers, fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and other family or neighborhood members.

Since its unofficial opening on April 3, 2000, the Men's Health Center has provided care to more than 4,000 patients, seeing an average of 25 to 30 patients daily. The Men's Health Center provides physical examinations; screenings for high blood pressure, diabetes, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, and prostate cancer; and oral health care. The health center also offers substance abuse and domestic violence prevention counseling, parenting skills training, job training, and nutrition education, as well as other social services.

Vision for Health has led efforts to stimulate the placement of men's health on the radar screen of key decision makers and has leveraged relationships to expand health services provided to Baltimore's male residents. Vision for Health is also identifying those barriers that get in the way of men receiving the care that they need. The Men's Health Center serves as a model for cities throughout the nation seeking to improve community health and has prompted Rochester, New York to begin building a men's health center in May 2001.

Community Voices recognizes the importance of men's health in the overall health of communities. Later this year, Community Voices will be releasing a publication outlining the barriers that men, particularly poor men and men of color, face in accessing the health care system. Among other barriers, this policy brief will explore the lack of health insurance, the underutilization of health care services, and other socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors that contribute to the poor health status of underserved men in this nation.

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