A Message from Mayor Wilce L. Cooke:

Lakeland Family Clinic Receives

Extension to April 15

Our citizens are deserving of quality health care and the possible closing of Lakeland’s Family Clinic in the City of Benton Harbor would impose a devastating adverse effect on the quality of life for Benton Harbor residents. I come to you again to request your assistance in helping the campaign to keep the clinic open to continue the availability of quality health care for all.

Here are several examples of the importance of the clinic to our community. During the past year, the clinic had 7,359 active patients and over 27,000 clinic visits. The Clinic offers specialty services such as cardiology, gynecology, gastroenterology, obstetrics, HIV/AIDS, and an excellent diabetes program. The clinic services over 400 expectant mothers per year with 2,227 births since September of 1999. The clinic has equipment and offers and more comprehensive array of services than any other limited clinic facility because of its association with Lakeland. We only have Dial-A-Ride with no others means of transportations for many of the citizens being serviced by this clinic. If this clinic closes, it will be become almost impossible to reach medical care for many of our senior citizens and area residents. Losing this medical clinic would leave residents without many important medical services. Because this facility is associated with the Lakeland Regional Health System, it offers far greater services that can be provided by any other smaller clinic. With the existence of this facility, they have been reporting a decrease in diabetic morbidity and mortality in the last two years. The city government supports the continuation of the Lakeland Family Clinic in the corporate confines of the City of Benton Harbor and encourages all citizens to please get involved and send a strong message of support for the continuation of the important services that the Lakeland Family Clinic provides to, not only Benton Harbor residents, but to all residents in Southwest Michigan. We ask you become involved and write to the Federal Government requesting an extension on the March 15^th deadline for proof of compliance and to not revoke funding for this much needed resource in the Benton Harbor community.

Your letters should be sent to:

Elizabeth Darling

Bureau of Primary Health Care

Division of Health Center Development, 3rd Floor

4350 East West Highway

Bethesda, MD 20814

e-mail: edarling@hrsa.gov

You should also send copies of your correspondence to:

Congressman Fred S. Upton

2161 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

(202) 225-3761

(202) 225-4986 fax

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow

702 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

(202) 224-4822

senator@stabenow.senate.gov

U.S. Senator Carl Levine

City of Benton Harbor 269 Russell Senate Office Building

200 Wall Street

Washington, D.C. 20510-2202

(202) 224-6221

(202) 224-1388 fax

Mayor Wilce L. Cooke

City of Benton Harbor

200 Wall Street

Benton Harbor, MI 49022

(269) 926-8402

This is what you, as a resident of Southwest Michigan, can do to ensure quality health care for all human beings. I am planning to meet with Lakeland officials to see exactly what steps they are taking to make sure the clinic remains open. We hope that they feel as strongly as we do about the importance of the clinic in our community. Thank you in advance for your time and efforts to keeping the Lakeland Family Clinic open for our community.