Historical November 1976 health reporting. Dates, fees, recommendations and first-aid instructions are reproduced from the original issue, not current medical advice or service announcements.
People’s Clinic was recently informed that their present source of government funding—the Manpower program—will be phased out on April Fool’s Day (does the government have a sense of humor?) Sources of further government funding are very slim, so the Clinic is faced with a great funds shortage, sufficient to cripple the operation if not relieved.
For the first three years of operation, the Clinic depended on patient donations, grants and gifts for funds to operate. Only this year has there been a Membership program, with a system of modest fees. The neighborhood has responded to this program, and our recent fundraising effort to cover our malpractice insurance, very favorably. Therefore, we have decided to mount a fundraising effort WITHIN the community we serve, seeking new memberships and continued support.
We know that if every household in the community were Members, the Clinic would have funds to operate far and above its present level. The response to our earlier needs has convinced us that the community supports our efforts toward better health care. By funding most of the Clinic’s operation within the community, the community will be better able to control and direct its operation.
Over and above its cost of operation, the Clinic puts approximately $50,000 worth of skilled health care services back into the community in the work of its volunteers. The Clinic needs the community, and the community needs the Clinic. If you don’t get a letter inviting you to become a member, or if you’re not a member already…don’t be shy: JOIN NOW. The charge is low: $3.00 per year for an individual, $5.00 per year for the whole family (and all family members 18 or over become voting members.) When the Clinic asks you to become a member, it means not only money for the Clinic: it means also your chance to support a needed service for yourself and your neighbors; a chance to take part in deciding who will run the Clinic, and how it shall be run; and a chance to build a health care service that responds to the needs of OUR neighborhood.
Originally published in The Paper, November 1976.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1976_11.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
