Although some checks still need to be counted, One Hundred Women Who Care – Estes Park has already collected more than $12,000 for the Estes Park Salud Family Health Center – the largest amount the philanthropy group has raised to date.
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The clinic, a Federally Qualified Health Center, needs to raise $1 million to offset a projected operating shortfall. If the clinic cannot meet its goal, it may not be able to continue operating past May.
Jennifer Morse, vice president of development for Salud Family Health Centers, says the clinic’s fundraising efforts have yielded $385,000.
“We’ve actually been pretty successful so far. We have an incredible foundation in Estes Park, and we’ve been working to connect with donors in the community and meeting with lots of different community groups to really share the story about the impact that Salud makes in Estes Park in terms of providing access to medical, dental, behavioral health, and pharmacy services,” said Morse.
The Estes Park clinic is part of a network of 13 primary health care clinic locations in Colorado operated by Salud, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization that provides healthcare services to low-income, medically underserved populations. The organization also operates a mobile clinic and has clinics in 10 schools in addition to a clinic at the Northern Colorado AIDS project in Ft. Collins.
The Estes Park clinic faces several funding challenges, including flat federal funding for health centers that have not kept up with rising healthcare costs and inflation in the healthcare market.
During the COVID pandemic, a three-year “continuous enrollment” policy protected eligible individuals from being removed from Medicaid, a health insurance program jointly funded by states and the federal government for low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities.
However, the official end of the COVID public health emergency on May 11, 2023 triggered what is called the “Medicaid unwind” and “disenrollment” of people who were eligible. In Colorado alone, 520,000 people have been officially “disenrolled” according to the Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker a data set collected by KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation
Additional funding threats to the Medicaid program are a major concern. In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a concurrent budget resolution by a vote of 217 to 215, the first step in the reconciliation process and opening the door to an estimated $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years. The Senate is not expected to take up the bill until late March.
“Significant changes that weaken the Medicaid program as a whole would be catastrophic to community health centers across the country,” said Morse. “Just speaking from a Salud perspective, it would be catastrophic.”
In terms of the local Salud Family Health clinic, Morse emphasized the importance of community support in keeping the operation running.
“Local support is everything. It is what is going to determine whether we remain operational. It will determine whether we are able to continue to provide access in the community,” said Morse.
“Salud is designed and created to provide access. That’s what we do. Our mission is to provide access to medical, dental, behavioral health, and pharmacy services. Community support is really what is going to allow us to continue to do that.”
“As long as we are successful in our fundraising efforts, we will continue to stay open,” said Morse.
Janet Collison, a member of the One Hundred Women Who Care steering committee, explained that the group chose to support Estes Park Salud during a meeting where three members presented charities for consideration. After hearing the presentations, the members voted, and the vote in favor of Estes Park Salud was significant. Members of the group committed to writing $100 checks to support the winning foundation.
According to Collison, a selling point for donating to Estes Park Salud was the matching funds.
“We were told at the meeting that someone in the community was going to match up to $150,000,” said Collison. “So, it was kind of a no brainer, because at that time, which was very early in the fundraising, our money would be doubled.”
Reflecting on the group’s contribution, Collison explained why she thought their donation record had been broken. “They wrote their checks for more money than they had to. They’re compassionate, and they’re very generous, and they see a need in the community.”
Sue McDermott, another member of the group’s steering committee, noted how even if the donation from their group feels like a drip in a bucket, she believes that the money will be put to good use regardless of whether Estes Park Salud hits their fundraising goal or not, as that money will be used to help people.
“The services of Salud are essential to the health of the Estes Park community as a whole,” said McDermott.
One Hundred Women Who Care – Estes Park meets three times a year for dinner and to support local charities. Members do not pay dues but instead agree to write a $100 check directly to the nonprofit selected by a group vote at each meeting. Over the past four years, the members of One Hundred Women Who Care have collectively raised more than $100,000 for area organizations.
The next meeting is June 26. For more information, email Janet Collison.
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