PORTAGE | NorthShore Health Centers has been recognized in a national report on health centers for making "incredible strides in increasing access to care."

The health center was one of 16 from across the nation recognized recently in a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources on the effectiveness and growth of health centers across the country.

The report, titled "Health Centers: America's Primary Care Safety New Reflections on Success, 2002-2007" cited the centers for "incredible strides in increasing access to care, promoting quality, eliminating health disparities and improving patient outcomes in many of the nation's neediest communities."

"It meant a lot to me. I was really surprised and pleased," NorthShore CEO Jan Wilson said, adding that the health center was recommended by report project officers for the significant job it does in the community.

"It is significant because we worked so hard and it has grown so large that other people were recognizing it," she said.

Wilson said the health center has grown because the need continues to grow. Last year the center saw an average of 3,000 patient visits each month and this year that number is increasing to 4,000 patient visits.

Wilson said the increase is not only a sign of the economy, but of the services the center offers, including after-hours care and a lack of physicians in the immediate area.

NorthShore had 12,040 patients in 2007, according to the Indiana Primary Health Care Associates' year-end 2007 report. Of those, Wilson said, 8,066, or 67 percent, were Porter County residents. The center serves residents in the northern part of Porter County and eastern Lake County.

Of the four Northwest Indiana health centers, only East Chicago Community Health Center has more patients. They had 12,101 patients in 2007. Hilltop Community Health Center, which serves southern Porter County and all of LaPorte, Jasper and Starke counties, had only 3,424 patients, and Gary Community Health Center had 3,271 patient in 2007.

Wilson said she sees patient visits increasing again this year. She estimates the health center will have 19,000 patients this year and will average 4,600 patient visits a month before the year's end.

The health center began more than a decade ago as a teen clinic inside Portage High School. It grew to a community clinic inside the school, operating four evenings a week. Eventually the clinic was recognized as a federally supported health center and currently operates three centers, two in Portage and one in Lake Station.

The group broke ground last week on another health clinic in Lake Station, slated to open in December.

The health center offers family, obstetrical, pediatric and dental health services. Last year alone, its three obstetricians delivered 600 children. It has its own laboratory services and partners with Portage Township Schools with a health academy located at the clinic at Portage High School.