PROVIDENCE – Tufts Health Plan last week presented a $25,000 donation to the Rhode Island Free Clinic to support the clinic’s work in providing comprehensive health care to uninsured adults.
Funded entirely through charitable contributions, the clinic is actively expanding to try to serve people across the state, and not just within easy reach of the original South Providence clinic. It plans to open a new facility in Newport next year, and it’s also working to try to make free care available to the uninsured at many doctors’ offices.
Tufts Health Plan President and CEO James Roosevelt Jr. presented the check to clinic board President Dr. Bernard J. Mansheim and clinic CEO Lynne Urbani at a ceremony Wednesday that was attended by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and other state and local officials.
“This contribution will help fund our ongoing efforts to provide health care to Rhode Island’s neediest residents,” Urbani said. “In particular, this money will support our prevention and wellness programs. But while Tufts’ donation is limited to those specific purposes, these types of donations will also indirectly help us achieve our aggressive plans to expand our services in the face of the widespread economic hardship.”
Urbani noted that even before the onset of the recession, more than 90,000 Rhode Island adults already lacked basic health insurance coverage, and the clinic last year served 2,000 people.
“When we made the commitment to come to Rhode Island, not only did we want to offer Rhode Islanders a choice in health care coverage, but we also committed to taking an active role in the health of the community,” Roosevelt said. “Targeting prevention and wellness efforts with our donation is an extension of our organization’s values and supports the mission of the clinic in providing primary care to the community. They do outstanding work and we are proud to be a part of its efforts.”
