By Fort Collins (CO) Mayor Ray Martinez
September 27, 2004

Fort Collins (CO) has a tremendous asset that is a source of community pride and deserves mention to colleagues across the United States. The Children's Clinic/Salud Family Health Center is a nonprofit community health center with the mission to provide primary health care for the low-income and uninsured population of Larimer County. Why is that important to our community? Statistics show that there are over 26,000 people living at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level in the clinic's service area and 12,000 of those are likely uninsured — including over 7,000 children. The clinic's population continues to grow as jobs are eliminated and larger shares of health insurance costs are passed on to employees. Many of those can no longer maintain health insurance for their families and need to obtain care elsewhere. Thanks to the Children's Clinic/Salud they have a place to go for quality health care.

The Children's Clinic/Salud Family Health Center accepts all patients — regardless of ability to pay. The clinic utilizes a sliding fee scale for payment of co-pays for services for those without health insurance. Last year, the clinic served 9,600 patients, including 4,000 children. The board-certified medical providers at the clinic provided over 26,000 patient visits including preventive care (e.g. well-child check-ups and immunizations) and health education services.

Uninsured children are 30 percent more likely to fall behind on immunizations and periodic well-child care and are 80 percent more likely to have never received any routine childcare. In the United States, one in five uninsured children has no regular source of health care. In addition to inaccessible routine well-child care, uninsured children are 70 percent more likely than insured children to require medical care for chronic conditions such as asthma. For those who seek care at the Children's Clinic, the immunization rate for children two years of age is 88 percent. This statistic is well above the nation's average and emphasizes the clinic's commitment to serve this population well.

Unfortunately, as busy as the clinic is and despite caring for almost 10,000 Larimer County residents, the clinic served only 38 percent of the targeted population. That means many, many more people either went without care or were seen in the hospital's emergency room. Emergency room visits are costly and are usually postponed until a situation becomes acute, requiring more extensive and expensive treatment. The current clinic has reached its maximum patient limit and must expand to serve the recognized need in our community.

Through the vision of many community leaders and their commitment to partners, an effort is currently under way to relocate and expand the Children's Clinic/Salud. The organization has purchased a building and is conducting a $2.75 million capital campaign to renovate and convert the former office building into a 20,000 square foot, 32 room medical examination clinic.

This clinic is an example of Fort Collins' goal to be known as a "City of Compassion" as noted in the following paragraph taken from City Council Resolution 2001-117 supporting the City of Character Initiative:

"WHEREAS, we desire to build upon our heritage and make Fort Collins a place where families are strong, homes and streets are safe, education is effective, business is productive, neighbors care about one another, and citizens are free to make wise choices for their lives and families."

We are building a city of people, not of walls and barriers. Our children need us today to prepare them for the future. Their future is our success if we help them prepare the way today.

I think it is important that mayors across the nation participate in helping their non-profit organizations pave the way for the future.