Washington Free Clinic closes
In 1968, the Washington Free Clinic was the first of its kind on the East Coast to offer free and low-cost healthcare on the East Coast. It helped establish the practice of offering anonymous STD testing and as the AIDS epidemic grew it's service expanded to include HIV testing and other services.
But the clinic has been hamstrung by budget cuts and a reduction in money from fundraising and government sources in recent years. In 2005 after a major loss of federal HIV-AIDS funding it almost closed, but a sudden rush of fundraising helped keep the doors open.
Still, over the past year even that money has declined. The 1,800 patients who rely on the free clinic will be forced to turn to Whitman Walker Clinic on Friday. (Credit to the newscenter staff at 365Gay.com for this story and the Washington Post has a bigger story here.)
Monday, January 15
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2 comments:
Patients aren't being "forced" to go to Whitman-Walker, they have been given a choice to continue their care there or they are getting the help to find a new medical home. Although you pasted this article from 365Gay, you changed the wording from "transferred" to "forced".
That's an excellent clarification jane... thank you.
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