Thanks for clinic

The recent news regarding an infusion of $1.29 million of state funds for the new Flathead Community Health Center is a wonderful example of what can happen when dedicated, compassionate legislators get together in a bi-partisan effort to provide much needed services to the community.

Locally, Rep. Bill Jones, R-Bigfork, and Sen. Dan Weinberg, D-Whitefish, were among the legislators who cooperated to make it happen. We owe them our thanks.

In Flathead County, the 2006 Census indicates some 35 percent, or 29,860 local citizens, many of them children, fall below the line of 200 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning they will be eligible for discounted health care at the new clinic.

Before the Flathead Community Health Center opened in December, the closest clinics serving the poor were in Libby and Missoula. With the new funds, our local clinic will have not only a doctor and two nurse practitioners, but will be able to add a medical caseworker along with mental health and substance abuse counselors.

Local health care not only makes compassionate sense for those in need, it makes economic sense in preventing more costly emergency care by attending to medical concerns before they reach the crisis level.

Thanks to Rep. Jones and Sen. Weinberg for setting a good bi-partisan example. Imagine what other community benefits we might reap by working together.

Gil Jordan

Coram