Health center seeks funding

Unless federal money comes through this summer, the community clinic for Prince William's working poor will close.

And without any funding from Prince William County for the Greater Prince William Community Health Center in the interim, the clinic will continue to cut hours and limit services to keep its doors open.

"It's a hand-to-mouth operation from now until September," said Paul Moessner, a member of the health center's board of directors.

It was about three years ago that a group of health-related organizations and the county decided to help its uninsured and underinsured residents by forming the community health center. Part of their plan was to fund the center with federal dollars by apply for and becoming a "federally qualified health center."

The health center has not attained the federal designation yet but may get it by Sept. 1.

"This is the second time we have applied," Moessner said. "We didn't get it with our first application but no organization makes it the first time around."

The health center has been able to open and offer care over the last 14 months largely with county money. The county has allocated $450,000 a year for the past two.

However, when the health center's board members approached county staff about inclusion in the fiscal 2009 budget, Moessner said they were told, "it's a tight year."

Additionally, county staff was concerned that the clinic had not yet gotten into the federal program. Moessner said the federal program would provide about $600,000 a year to the clinic or about one-third of its operating budget. The county was expected to provide another third and the health center was supposed to find other funding sources, such as grants for the remaining third.

Money for the community health clinic was not included in the county's fiscal 2009 budget.

"The county has been a good partner up until now," Moessner said.

"Priorities change and we understand that," Moessner said. "We aren't sure if some of the folks we are serving are folks they want us to be serving."

Moessner said that the county's stance on illegal immigrants likely played some role in the decision not to fund the health center in the fiscal 2009 budget.

About half of the patients treated at the Woodbridge community health center are Hispanic, according to its medical director, Dr. Adrienne Buggs. She said she did not know the legal status of any of her patients because they are not asked.

Moessner said the health center has more than 2,000 patients enrolled and those patients have made more than 4,000 visits to the health center's Woodbridge and Manassas locations.

"We're just doing what we said we would do," Moessner said.

The effort to establish a community health center got under way because other resources -- health department services, free clinics offering care to those below the poverty line and mobile health vans that have been bringing medical care to low-income communities -- were not enough to meet the growing need.

Moessner said the health center board is pursuing grants, such as the $150,000 one it recently received from the Northern Virginia Health Foundation, to keep it afloat until the federal money comes through.

Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010 or astreng@potomacnews.com.