Editorial - January 2003

Lincoln’s helping hands

January 22, 2003 - Lincoln’s new health clinic has a great name: Helping Hands. It says a lot about what the clinic does for people in need of healthcare, as well as those providing it.

During its early organizational period, board members were told they would need two years before they were ready to see patients. But Helping Hands Chairman Harry Brogden proudly points out that it took only six months, a credit to the generous spirit of a large number of volunteers and donors. This effort says a lot about the character of our community.

The new clinic, designed to provide medical assistance to the indigent, officially opened last week at the Housing Authority Building, 806 E. McBee St. The clinic is staffed on a volunteer basis by physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other personnel from Lincoln Medical Center and the Lincoln County Health Department. It’s open for business Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Donations for the clinic came in all shapes and sizes, with St. Dorothy’s Catholic Church providing one of the earliest contributions. First Federal Savings Bank donated $5,000 in November that helped pay for liability insurance. LMC donated $2,000 worth of medical supplies. Morty Wadsworth, a freshman at Lincolnton High School, is raising money to buy books for children waiting on their parents at the clinic.

Mike Owen of the Director of the Lincolnton Housing Authority was amazed at the spontaneous generosity of a local social organization, The Go-Go Club, whose members passed on contributions to him while he was speaking on an entirely different topic during their annual meeting.

“They just asked me about Helping Hands and then took some money out of their treasury. Then I started getting a bunch of individual contributions.”

The generous startup lays the groundwork for grants, which often are not available without a show of public support.

Owen said the initial reports on clients being served reflects the needs many Lincoln County leaders knew were not being met locally.

“These are just people who have fallen through the cracks. They are not able to work, but they don’t have insurance and they aren’t eligible for Medicaid or Medicare.”

In his remarks during last week’s formal opening, Lincoln County Commissioner Jerry Cochrane said the clinic joins other Lincoln County organizations that have a tradition of caring for less-fortunate people.

It’s nice to be known as a community with a lot of helping hands.

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For more information about the clinic, call the information line at 704-735-7145

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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