People’s Clinic given reprieve

Four People’s Clinic sites in Spokane will remain open for at least a year after the new president of Washington State University intervened in a proposed closure.

Elson S. Floyd pledged Tuesday to use $400,000 in one-time reserves to allow nearly 3,000 students and other low-income clients to receive care beyond the end of July.

“It’s really important for us to have a longer transition for those patients we’re serving,” Floyd said Wednesday.

Clinic organizers announced Monday that the sites would close July 31 after they did not receive an expected $400,000 federal grant that made up 80 percent of the agency’s budget.

“Think about it,” Floyd said. “That’s four weeks from now. That’s a population with few alternatives.”

Floyd said he learned of the closure of the program run by WSU’s Intercollegiate College of Nursing by reading the newspaper Tuesday morning. By Tuesday night, he’d notified Anne Hirsch, interim dean, that the program could continue.

“What a lovely surprise,” Hirsch said Wednesday. “Dr. Floyd has a very strong personal commitment to the community in which we reside.”

Hirsch had said there was no alternative to closing the clinics and suspending a dozen staff members after organizers learned last week that they did not receive a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

Previous HRSA funds for nursing education and retention had provided about $400,000 a year for the past five years. The program’s budget is about $500,000 annually, Hirsch said.

Floyd said he acted quickly out of concern for the clients, who include uninsured and underinsured people and many students. He said clinic organizers were reacting to the loss of the grant and that they might not have known other funding could be made available.

“I don’t think there was any ill will here at all,” he said. “I don’t want to imply that.”

The found money will allow the clinic a longer “phase-out” period, organizers said. During that time, the clinic might seek additional grants or other resources, Hirsch said.

“We have many donors who may step up knowing that we’re on thin ice,” she said.

Established in 1998, the first People’s Clinic site was founded to provide mental health and primary health care for underinsured and low-income families. It has expanded over the years to include sites at the Spokane YWCA, Havermale Alternative High School, Spokane Community College and People’s Clinic West, which serves Spokane Falls Community College.

Five area clinics had volunteered to absorb clients affected by the closure.