Nobel Peace Prize winner and peace movement advocate Jane Addams once said, "The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life."  This sense of community or "common life" is what drives all of us at North Coast Health Ministry.  It is, I suspect, the driver for our many volunteers and supporters as well.  

Caring for the uninsured has become increasingly difficult in our current economy.  Our number of new patients continues to grow at a brisk rate.  This is evident by the growing line at our doors just before 8:30 a.m. each day when our walk-in clinic begins.  The conditions we are treating are becoming more and more complicated as more previously insured patients with multiple chronic illnesses are entering into the uninsured population.  

Our economy has left many people in situations they never dreamed of or prepared for.  We are seeing patients on a daily basis who state that they have always worked and do not know what to do since losing their jobs; people who say they never before have had to deal with lack of insurance or lack of financial security.  I have had patients tell me that they have seriously contemplated choosing homelessness to escape current financial and relationship stressors.  

We are making a difference for the many patients who seek our care - we are keeping people out of the hospital and are providing relief to some desperate situations.  With the help of our supporters in the community, we are bringing stability to many in some very tumultuous times.