Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 7, 1994 TAG: 9411080142
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A national leader in the free-clinics movement, Roanoke's over two decades has marshaled tremendous volunteer and donor support to provide health and dental care and medicine free to working-poor families.
But for the clinic, who knows how many members of our community might have fallen through cracks in what passes for our nation's health-care system.
Two young physicians, John "Lucky" Garvin and Richard Surrusco, started it all. Joining them over the years have been doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, dietitians, counselors and many others not normally regarded as having plenty of free time on their hands. They volunteer in part for the addictive good feeling it instills, in part because the premise of the place - focused on the working poor - is compelling.
Under the screwed-up status quo, people lose Medicaid benefits if they struggle to keep low-income jobs that offer no health insurance. The comfortably insured may be dimly aware of what medical bills are like; for a family on the edge of poverty, they're a considerable shock.
They can mean the difference between hope and despair, between keeping ends together and slipping into bankruptcy, between remaining in the work force and falling into welfare dependence.
Enter the Bradley Free Clinic. Since 1974, with some 400 volunteers, 500 contributors and a small paid staff, it has donated $6.5 million worth of free health care. It has been a demilitarized zone among the valley's rival hospitals, all of which support it. It has made its services available in a caring atmosphere, at evening hours convenient to working clients. It has shown its worth in thousands of people's lives.
Not by luck has it been a national leader of free clinics. It was helped, to be sure, by the generous support of the late philanthropist, Marion Via, among others. But it also has been guided through the years by wise decisions. The clinic, for example:
Sought legislation granting malpractice immunity for retired and non-insured health professionals and for those taking referrals in their private offices. (Doing so saved insurance costs and expanded the ranks of potential volunteers.)
Moved from a crowded, dilapidated facility to its current, well-suited residence on Third Street Southwest.
Struggled to maintain a well-supplied pharmacy. Last year, the clinic had to buy $60,000 worth of drugs, but was able to provide $377,000 worth to patients, mostly samples donated by physicians and hospitals.
Remained independent of restrictions, mandates and red tape that government tends to impose when its money is involved.
Kept all services and drug prescriptions free, unlike some clinics that charge on a sliding scale.
Free clinics are no substitute for health-care reform that would ensure coverage for the working poor. But, as the Bradley Free Clinic has shown now for 20 years, they are - in the absence of health-care reform - an invaluable community resource.
by CNB