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In Support of Local Access to Health Care (Nanjemoy Health Clinic), April 2009

I am Johnnie DeGiorgi. As many of you know I am running for County Commissioner in 2010. I am speaking here as a concerned resident of the community. The Nanjemoy clinic provides health care to Charles County residents that are isolated from other medical facilities. Closing Nanjemoy Clinic will leave more than 755 people without medical services.

The Nanjemoy Clinic is the only doctor’s office in this portion of the county. The clinic provides quality health care. I know because even though I have health insurance I have chosen the Nanjemoy Clinic as my primary provider. The clinic is losing money because they are handling many who are in the greatest need. The clinic’s patients are, for the most part, not people who can just go somewhere else. A trip to White Plains is not possible for many of them. VanGo offers very limited services and a trip outside of the local area turns a doctor’s appointment into an all day excursion.

I was happy to hear yesterday that the clinic has received funding through President’s Obama’s stimulus package. This however, is not a permanent solution. I am fully committed to doing all that I can to keep health care in Nanjemoy. We need to find a long term solution for the funding problem.

Perhaps one solution is to aggressively market the clinic to those in the area who have insurance and have the means to pay. Maybe evening hours one day a week, to attract more people. We need to think outside the box to find ways to keep the clinic HERE in Nanjemoy. This has to be a joint effort between elected officials and Greater Baden.

I would like to know what has been done by our elected officials? I know that the County Commissioners met with Greater Baden on February 4. The first public meeting held by the Commissioners on this topic is TODAY APRIL 1, 2009. That is 60 days! This is way too long. Many of us have heard that the clinic is going to close June 30, 2009. That is 91 days away. What has been done in the past 60 days?

As a county taxpayer I am subsidizing an ice rink and other facilities ‘for the general good’. If these things are important to quality of life in Charles County, retaining the one medical facility in rural western Charles County MUST be seen as CRITICAL and ESSENTIAL to the greater good and quality of life of all Charles County residents.

Johnnie DeGiorgi
Candidate for Charles County Commissioner, District 2

www.votedegiorgi.com
Degiorgi_for_commissioner@yahoo.com

1 April 2009