At a meeting tonight, a friend handed me a letter sent to him by the Director of Ypsilanti’s Corner Health Center. Here’s how it began:
First, the bad news. The Corner Health Center is experiencing record cuts in funding this year. Our United Way funding was cut $43,000 over the last two years.,
We lost $35,000 in grant support for family planning. In addition, we are no longer able to purchase contraceptives at government pricing. The Corner will pay an additional $77,000 this year to purchase contraceptives at retail prices so that low-income young women have access to low cost birth control to prevent unintended pregnancies.
Financial support from other programs, such as the $100,000 we’ve been receiving for the county safety net providers has been cut by almost 50%. Medicaid reimbursements cover less than 40% of the actual cost of care. Approximately 45% of patients have Medicaid and another 45% have no insurance at all.
As a result, we made some difficult decisions this year to make sure that our doors remain open to all young people who need medical care. In order to balance The Corner’s over-stressed budget for FY08, we had to reduce both of our nursing positions to part-time and also use $45,000 from our operational reserves…
That’s as much as I got through transcribing, but you get the point — funds are dropping off precipitously as demand for services keep growing. The Corner Health Center, like so many non-profits here in the Michigan, is being pushed far beyond the breaking point. If you’ve finished your holiday shopping and still have a few dollars left over, please consider giving a few dollars. It’ll make you feel good, and it could make a huge difference in someone’s life.
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I never got to the “good news” part of the letter, but my guess is that it didn’t say, “We found a huge sack of money and now all our problems are over.” If I find out that’s the case, however, I’ll post an update.
See also:
The War on Contraception
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/2007/12/pr20071218/
What OTHER priorities are MORE important in our area than the health of our young people?
Name one. Fire? No. Police? No. Chamber of Commerce Golf Outing? No. District Library? No. Where else is the money going?
Assuming ALL of the available charitable monies are down … why cut the clinic … please, someone … name ONE more important need.
I know that at least one of you out there made a contribution to the Corner Health Center. (I received a note.) Thank you.
It was in the news this morning that TCHC experienced a fire yesterday, causing $5000 worth of damage to the roof. I worked there for 13 years, plus both my girls have been clients — a better organization does not exist. I’ll be giving something. Is The Corner on Gary’s Give Local campaign? If not, it should be.
Joan’s retirement celebration was pretty fantastic tonight. It was a great “thank you” for 28 years of service. I shed more than one tear listening to the stories told during the program.
Since this is the post that introduced me to the CHC, I thought putting a note in her honor here would be appropriate.
Please consider donating to The Chesler Legacy Fund.
http://www.cornerhealth.org for complete contact info.
Thanks for taking the time to post that, DPE. I appreciate it.