Despite receiving two checks from the state Department of Health that totaled $125,000 earlier this month, the Schenectady Free Health Clinic said it is still severely short on operating funds in a recent fundraising letter sent to households throughout the county.
According to Executive Director William Spolyar, the clinic has raised close to $400,000, composed of $125,000 in state grants and $100,000 from the County Legislature. The rest of the money stems from private donations.
In their fundraising letter, the clinic’s board said it needs approximately $225,000 to bring the organization closer to its $700,000 budget. The additional funds would allow the clinic to remain open for the entirety of their fiscal year, which began this summer.
Spolyar cites the rising cost of prescription drugs as one reason for the financial crisis. The clinic pays all drug costs because patients can’t afford the financial burden of high-cost prescriptions.
The board allocated $550,000 for the cost of prescription drugs alone, more than 75 percent of the entire budget. And, Spolyar said the grant money he received from the state has already been spent to pay outstanding bills with CVS Pharmacy that totaled approximately $175,000.
At the clinic we spend an average of $45,000 to $50,000 per month on prescription drugs, said Spolyar.
The fund shortage can also be attributed to a reduction in state grants. Gov. Eliot Spitzer cut a $325,000 grant earlier this year before awarding $125,000 in state aid this November. The clinic was on the verge of closing until they finally received two checks ` one for $100,000 on Wednesday, Dec. 12, and the other for $25,000 on Thursday, Dec. 13.
Spolyar is the clinic’s only paid employee. The medical team is made up mainly of retired physicians who are part of the Volunteer Physicians Project of Schenectady County. Along with volunteer nurses and staff, the physicians treat uninsured and underinsured adults who have no other source of medical care every Thursday and at 600 Franklin St., Suite 205.
Staff members aren’t the only volunteers ready to help though. On Thursday, Dec. 20, several women from Congregation Agudat Achim in Schenectady distributed hand-knit scarves and donated toiletries to patients of the free clinic who sat in the waiting room. `We were planning a social event for our Women’s Network to teach women in our congregation how to knit,` said Hillary Fink, who helped organize the donations. `We decided it should be a social event with a purpose, so we chose to make donations to the Schenectady Free Health Clinic because three doctors who volunteer there are members of our synagogue.`
Adoria Potter and Comfort Yarmeto were waiting to see a doctor when Fink came up and gave them each a brightly colored scarf and offered a choice of toiletry items from a basket that included hand creams, shampoo and facial cleanser.
Potter is a housekeeper who used to have a health-care plan through her employer, but could no longer afford the program’s costs. Like Potter, Yarmeto works at a low-paying job. She is the single mother of six children.
`I’ve been coming to the clinic for two or three years now, and I thank God they have a place like this in Schenectady,` said Yarmeto. `I have a job, but I don’t earn enough money to have my own insurance.`
The clinic specializes in serving the working poor ` a group that is growing nationwide. According to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts, released in October, more than 41 million Americans in working poor families can’t afford necessities like health care and housing. The working poor are often defined as a group that makes too much money to qualify for government funded programs like Medicaid or food stamps, but cannot afford their employer’s health coverage. Others have a health care plan that doesn’t fully cover their costs.
According the Schenectady Free Health Clinic’s Web site, there are approximately 20,000 uninsured people living in Schenectady County.
In the past year, more than $2 million in free care was provided by the clinic. The clinic also gave 350 pre-employment physicals. According to clinic officials, more than 250 of these people were employed.
If the clinic closes, the board said patients would be forced to visit already overcrowded emergency rooms, raising medical insurance premiums and increasing taxes.
According to Spolyar, the clinic will rely mainly on private donations to raise money this year, but he hopes the state will consider putting additional funds in the Department of Health’s budget as a line item reserved for New York’s free health clinics.
`The Department of Health has called us a model free clinic,` said Spolyar. `We hope that means they will do what they can to keep our doors open.`
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