Clinic Director, Allison Colby's Open House Remarks
Clinic Director, Allison Colby, speaking to Open House guests at Culmore Clinic.
Thank you to our partners for your enduring support and your testimony today; and thank you all for joining us. You, our Board Members, donors, community partners, volunteers and staff, you make this place work, and we are so grateful. I want to especially thank and recognize our amazing staff and volunteers! Can you please stand? Recognize full time Medical Director -- Volunteer Dr. Sneiderman. He gives of his time and asks nothing in return. Thank you for leading us in caring for our community!
As many of you may know -- In 2016 I was drawn to The Clinic because of its mission to provide quality, compassionate care to those who otherwise would go without. And even after 3 years, I continue to be impressed and surprised by the amount of work this small organization can accomplish and the steps we are taking each day to do more for our patients.
Today, I want to share with you three major milestones we have reached in the last year, all for the benefit of our patients.
Perhaps the most obvious is our move to this fabulous new home:
Thanks to the hospitality and grace of the FCC community and the generosity of funders like the Philip Graham foundation, we have been able to transform this space into a Clinic that perfectly mirrors the mission of this church. (You will see so many examples of this in the tour….)
Statistics show that our neighborhood, Culmore/Baileys’ is 57% uninsured and that number continues to rise, we knew we needed to stay here to serve Culmore to the best of our ability.
Fewer and fewer people have access to transportation, safe housing and food.
The good news -- we are working to respond directly to these needs. We are on track to hit 2000 patient visits this year, a 50% increase from 2 years ago.
We have over 40 clinical and non-clinical partners in the community, many of whom are here today. Working to address health needs - but more importantly the social needs of our community. Because you cannot fix one without the other.
Our move here has also enabled a 3rd day of operations focused on increasing the depth and breadth of comprehensive primary care services our patients deserve, through initiatives like Group Diabetes Visits on Wednesdays 80% of patients have lowered sugar and over 50% have lost weight
Culmore Clinic offers a special type of health care here and it is important that we maintain this interfaith, compassionate, neighborly, safe haven for those we serve.
2. Our second major milestone: A partnership with local non-profit pharmacy, NovaScripts Central.
The many barriers our patients face are a tremendous burden
To have prescriptions available on site, for a significantly discounted price -- think $1000 becomes $5 -- means that our patients are not left to find transportation, navigate an English speaking pharmacist, pay full price for a medication, understand the instructions on the bottle, and call for questions about side effects. We BYPASS all of these barriers.
3. Finally -- I want to recognize the volunteers who make this all possible. We have surpassed 10,000 volunteer hours this year and wouldn’t have a Clinic without you. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
How do we make all this possible? We need YOU. All of you.
As we uncover the increasing needs of our neighbors and strive to meet those needs, we know that our support will need to grow as well.
Intensive primary care requires committed support from you.
It’s easy. Donate. Volunteer. Create awareness. Every little bit helps. Now, more than ever, this community needs us to come together and celebrate our values and continue to advocate for and be an example of healthcare for all, positive interfaith relations, and compassionate services for all, no matter where you come from.
What more do you need to know about Culmore Clinic? Know that our patients are our neighbors, our fellow parishioners, and our friends. We support an ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse population of adults who are medically underserved and vulnerable. All of our patients fall under 200% of the federal poverty level and most of the patients who find their way to us have not had access to healthcare in several years, if ever. Not only are we treating diabetes and hypertension, but we are uncovering the social factors of our patient’s lives that create significant barriers to quality care.
And of course we are always looking for volunteers in a number of capacities. We need RNs, event planners, front desk volunteers and more. -- just ask! I’m sure we can find a job for you!
Again, thank you so much for coming today. Our fabulous staff and volunteers, have gathered in their stations and are ready to receive you.