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For center's health, all need to walk the walk

By TIMES EDITORIAL
Published April 18, 2007

As local governments cut back their spending to focus more on public safety and other legally mandated government services, the burden on private organizations to provide for the needs of the destitute is likely to grow.

As those organizations step up to take a bigger role, residents who care will have to step up, too, and provide a private funding stream.

An example was spotlighted in Tuesday's St. Petersburg Times.

The late Willa Carson, a nurse who longed to serve the health care needs of low-income residents of North Clearwater, saw her dream realized when the Willa Carson Health Resource Center opened in two North Greenwood apartments in 1995.

The center was soon overcrowded. So Carson, a determined and empathetic person, lobbied state and city officials to fund a new center, which opened in 2001 and began dispensing free health services to the needy.

But since Carson died a year ago, the center has struggled for money. It no longer is open on Mondays and Fridays, and it is operating in the red.

To try to raise funds, the board of directors has organized a 5K Walk for Willa scheduled for Saturday in North Greenwood (for information, call 467-9411 or go to www.carsonhrc.org). Runners and walkers hopefully will turn out and the immediate funding crisis will be averted.

However, a 5K is not a longterm solution for the health center. While she was alive, Carson sought support and encouragement from many other, better funded health care institutions in Pinellas County, both public and private.

For the Willa Carson Health Resource Center to survive, those health care institutions now will have to embrace the center and provide funding assistance. Individuals with special talent for raising money and finding benefactors will need to step forward and donate their skills.

Local governments hopefully will be able to help finance the most vital community organizations that provide a safety net for the needy, but that help can no longer be relied upon. People who have money, time and talent to donate will be more important to those organizations than ever.

[Last modified April 18, 2007, 06:46:45]