Open Door to get $1.3M grant

By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — The Open Door Health Center is receiving a $1.3 million grant that was made possible by the economic stimulus package approved by the federal government last month.

Open Door, which provides medical care to poor and often uninsured patients from throughout south-central Minnesota, had previously sought the grant but finished behind other applicants. When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama, it included $2 billion to boost health care programs for the growing number of poor, unemployed and uninsured.

On Monday, Open Door officials found out that some of that money was coming to Mankato. Learning the news from a reporter, clinic Administrator Sarah Kruse declined to comment until she could verify that the funding decision was final.

“It was almost a too-good-to-believe kind of thing,” Kruse said.

The $1.3 million will be provided over two years and will result in hiring or contracting with a variety of health care providers including doctors, dentists, nurses, dental hygienists and others, she said. And it will mean the ability to serve countless people in need of care but without the means to pay the entire cost — a population that’s growing as the economy deteriorates.

“We’re already seeing more calls from people who have lost jobs and lost insurance or have lost jobs and can’t afford COBRA,” she said.

Open Door, with a budget of about $1.1 million last year, served about 3,000 people. Some received free care, while most are charged on a sliding-fee scale based on their ability to pay.

The clinic had been seeking the grant funds for years, last applying in December of 2007. Kruse said she learned that the most recent application qualified for funding but there wasn’t enough money appropriated to cover all of the qualifying grants. With the new money provided through the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services went through the applications that were well regarded but not funded, according to Meredith Salsbery, communications director for Congressman Tim Walz of Mankato.

A total of $155 million will be divided between 126 health centers around the country, providing care to an estimated 750,000 low-income people.

Open Door began operations in 1993 at a Walnut Street office and has steadily expanded its hours of operation, services provided and patients served. But funding has always been precarious, and Kruse credited $300,000 in state funding obtained through the efforts of state Sen. Kathy Sheran and Rep. Kathy Brynaert last spring with bridging the gap to the federal funding.

A press release issued by the White House Monday touted the funding both for the health care that would be provided for needy Americans and for the health care jobs that would be created.

Walz issued a statement that struck similar themes, quoting government statistics from 2007 that 16 million patients received their health care from clinics like Open Door.

“Not only will the $1.3 million help keep our community in good health even as some individuals and families lose their health insurance due to layoffs and cutbacks,” Walz said, “but it will also create direct and indirect activity and local jobs.”

While Kruse wasn’t ready to estimate Monday how many jobs would be created, she said there’s no doubt that the funding would have a meaningful effect on the lives of southern Minnesotans. Open Door has rarely marketed its services because word of mouth has kept its paid staff and volunteers fully booked.

The new money will allow the clinic to reach out to those who need health care but are unaware of Open Door. Kruse said it will be a challenge for the clinic staff to deal with a sudden and unexpected increase in Open Door’s budget of more than 50 percent — one they’re thrilled to meet.

“We see the impact this has on our patients’ lives,” she said.

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