While the health care debate rages on and on and on, a group of concerned residents saw a health-care hole in La Plata County and found a way to fill it.
Supporters of the La Plata Community Clinic gathered at the end of September at the Dalton Ranch Golf Club pavilion to review the work of the clinic to date – it opened in January to provide health care to those who literally have no place else to go – and start the campaign to raise the money to keep it going. Thus far, 400 people have received health and dental care at the clinic.
I think it should be stressed high in the story that this is not free health care targeted only to the indigent. Patients pay based on a sliding scale, and most of them are working, productive members of our community.
Bob Cox, one of the clinic’s founders, created a Durango Derby, asking the 90 guests in attendance questions about the different services they use in Durango. Carpenters? Waiters and waitresses? Ski lift operators? The common denominator among these service providers was the fact that many of them lack access to affordable health care. Think about that for a moment. All kinds of folks who make our lives easier, with only urgent care or the emergency room for their health care – the most expensive and least holistic of care.
The Derby was designed so that every attendee went home with a prize bag that included items such as a grass pass for the 2014 Music in the Mountains season.
A patient named “Priscilla” told of being bitten by a brown recluse spider on her way to work. Because she didn’t have insurance, she didn’t seek medical care, and the bite became quite infected. The clinic gave her a place to go for help.
Another left the clinic in tears because the dentist at the clinic had been able to save not only her tooth, but her smile. And a doctor at the clinic saved a life when a man came in with a bad mole, which turned out to be cancer, a melanoma in situ. Luckily, it was found before it had spread.
He told the clinic’s executive director, Harriet Brandstetter, that he never would have gone to a doctor to have the mole removed if the clinic hadn’t been there.
Kudos go to the health-care providers who have donated their time and expertise at the clinic. I don’t have the entire list, but those who attended the event included Dr. Howard Nichols, Dr. Julie Psyklo, Dr. Jay Ciotti and Dr. Tony DeMond, along with physician’s assistant Jonathan Fox. Dental hygienists, nurses and other providers who attended included Pattie Adler, Renea Blanton, Bonnie Hermesman, Dusty MacDougall and Lynn Westberg.
I struggle with medical bills, and I have insurance; I can’t imagine needing care, working a minimum-wage job and having a health emergency.
If you’d like to learn more, I’m attaching the frequently asked questions about the clinic to my column online, or you can visit www.laplatacommunityclinic.org. Donations toward the $300,000 needed to keep the clinic open in 2014 may also be made on the website.
HHH
Before I go any further, I forgot to put in the date for the Durango Choral Society’s He & She concert, which I mentioned in my Saturday column. It’s Oct. 18.
HHH
Warming their hands over the tiny flames of their birthday candles are Penny Haney, Betsy Janeczek, Sharon Kuseberger, Mary Barter, Shelley Mann, Kathy Deaderick, Nancy Weidemann, Preston Knight, Ashley Creyer, Bob Morriss, Shaelin Bassett, Dian Jenkins, Molly Zink, Kathy Pierson, Evelyn Ramey, Marilyn Summers and Shawn Slater.
HHH
I often write about how this chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization gave this scholarship or another awarded that educational grant. Women may have been wondering how to score some of that generosity to pursue their educational dreams. Here’s how to find out:
From 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 2 at the Durango Public Library, representatives from the organization, which has four chapters here, will discuss the different ways they can help women continue to gain education and skills.
They offer scholarships for undergraduate studies, vocational training, graduate studies and doctoral programs. So it doesn’t matter much where you are on your educational arc, they might be able to help.
The event, which is co-sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center, is free.
HHH
“Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome.” ... If the song from “Cabaret” isn’t playing in your head after that intro, then it ought to be. The show is opening at the Durango Arts Center on Thursday. Based on the preview I saw at the Durango Friends of the Arts Luncheon and Fashion Show, we are all in for a treat.
But on Friday night, the audience can get into the act and into the mood of the decadent 1930s with “Burlesque in Berlin.” The party starts at 6:30 p.m. and continues until the 8 p.m. curtain time. It comes complete with preshow performances, German appetizers, wine and beer (of course, it’s Berlin) and a special “silks” show by artists Hattie Miller and Steve Ward.
As it’s a fundraiser for the DAC, tickets are $50 and are available online at www.durangoarts.org or by calling the DAC box office at 259-2606 ext. 19.
Half the fun will be checking out the creative costumes designed by your fellow partygoers!
“Life is a Cabaret, old chums, come to the Cabaret.”
HHH
Some people have friends, and then some people have Friends. In Tim Sullivan’s case, the Friends are some of the top songwriters in Nashville, Tenn., and he has managed to lure them west of the Mississippi River to help raise money for the music programs of the Stillwater Foundation.
Kent Blazy has written eight No. 1 hits, including Garth Brooks’ “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” and he’ll be joined by Cory Batten and Karyn Rochelle, who have written songs for Trisha Yearwood, Chris Young and Patty Loveless. They’ll be performing their own songs – that’s something you don’t hear every day.
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Henry Strater Theatre. Tickets are $30 and $50. They’re available by visiting www.henrystratertix.com.
Let me put it this way – if you’re not out this weekend, you are missing one of the big weekends of the year: Durango Heritage Celebration, “Cabaret,” the Pink Ribbon Affair, the Stillwater Foundation benefit, and I’m sure a few things I’m forgetting.
HHH
Nothing says happy anniversary like a hayride under a glowing moon for Chuck and Melissa Mosley, Bob and Nancy Conrad, Jeremy and Kristen Dugan, Tom and Jan Kyser and Bill and Cathy Roberts.
HHH
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