Since 1922, San José
Clinic has provided healthcare and health education
to economically disadvantaged individuals and
families in the greater Houston area.
San José Clinic began
when Monsignor George T. Walsh,
Pastor of Annunciation Catholic Church in downtown Houston,
noticed the alarmingly high infant mortality rate
among families in his parish. With a meager $50 budget, Monsignor Walsh set up the Clínica Gratuita
(Free Clinic) in a small frame house on Franklin
Street.
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From that humble beginning, San José Clinic
has quietly and steadfastly grown into a leading
provider of quality healthcare services for
individuals and families who struggle the most with
accessing affordable healthcare. Now, the Clinic
provides medical specialties, dental care and
pharmaceutical needs to an estimated 5,000 patients
annually who are uninsured and cannot otherwise
afford these services. |
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Milestones |
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2007: San José Clinic's dedicated volunteer corps topped
511 persons, contributing 12,931 service hours valued at more
than $335,594.
Art with Heart
fundraiser: The
2nd Annual Art with Heart event
is
held May 5, 2007 at Lawndale Art Center. Chaired by former
Board Member Didi Garza and current Board Members
Barb Heilman and Larry Massey, the event raises a
net of
approximately $103,000 for San José Clinic. Honoring
rheumatologist and long-time Clinic volunteer, Dr. Sandra
Sessoms, the event is attended by over 500 people and
features a silent and live auction of professional, student
and St. Dominic Village resident art.
St. Dominic
Village is a retirement center for retired lay people and
priests.
Saying good-bye to Spring Branch:
Throughout 2007, San José Clinic's
Spring Branch. services is
consolidated into the Downtown location. Energy and
resources focus on the new building location preparations
while the consolidation enhances current services.
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Dental service consolidation creates a 15% increase in dental
patient care.
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March 2007, gynecological services are transferred to the
Downtown location
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Reassignment of the contract Family Practice physician in July
2007 enables Downtown location to offer a family practice
clinic every day, restoring pediatric care, including
immunizations. The reassignment also permits a "walk-in"
services to adults and children.
The ground blessing: On September 5,
Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza
blesses the ground of San José Clinic's
relocation site.
Speakers include Sr. Lillian Anne of the
Sisters of the
Immaculate Conception,
Les Cave head of CHRISTUS Foundation for HealthCare, and
Stacie Cokinos of San José Clinic. Approximately 100
persons attend the brief celebration held across the street
from where the clinic and partner organizations will be
located at Fannin, San Jacinto, Dennis, and McGowan
streets.
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2006: San José Clinic provides care to 4,750 individuals
through 27,157 Clinic visits. A remarkable corps of 448
volunteers
continues to bless the Clinic's patients, offering a total of 11,692
service hours.
San José Clinic is oldest charity U.S. clinic: At the National Association of Free Clinics National Summit
staff learn San José Clinic is one of the oldest charity clinics in
the United States, underscoring the Clinic's history,
mission and 85-year legacy.
CEO Stacie Cokinos named to charitable clinic association:
Executive Director, Stacie
Cokinos, is elected to serve on the board of the Lone
Star Association of Charitable Clinics giving her an opportunity to share best practices
with other clinics across Texas and to promote advocacy and
support for charity clinics and healthcare for the uninsured.
Clinic board establishes medical director position:
The new Board of Director’s Program Services Committee, led by
Board Member Benjamin Lichtiger, MD, launches several
initiatives to ensure quality of Clinic services. The
committee
establishes and recruits Hilda T. Vollero, MD to fill
the voluntary medical director position. They update the
volunteer provider credentialing process and establish a peer review process. They
also recommend a quality management model and
establish a new list of available medicines to ensure effective and
maximum use of donated pharmaceuticals. Nearly $1 million of
free medications are received this year.
2006-2010 Strategic Plan Launched: In February, the Board of Directors and Clinic
managers meet. Board member Susan Stromatt ably facilitates a 5-year
strategic plan --San José Clinic's first primary objective is to replace the current facility by 2010.
Plans for a new Clinic building: Following the sale of St. Joseph Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital Foundation Board,
later renamed CHRISTUS Foundation for Healthcare,
suggests a partnership with San José Clinic. The partnership maintains a mission presence in downtown Houston
to continue the healthcare ministry of the Congregation of
Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. This is a national model of collaboration between
Catholic healthcare and a Catholic Diocese, entities who
typically work parallel to each other. The Foundation and
Clinic jointly study the
feasibility of the Foundation building a new home to replace
San José Clinic's current downtown facility.
First Aid for San Jose Clinic fundraiser: Board members Barb Heilman and Karen Clifton
co-chair two fundraising events, Art with Heart
and
First Aid, netting approximately $56,000 for San José Clinic.
New Board Member Larry Massey advocates a fundraising
event focusing on local artists. Held March 10th at Houston's Center for Contemporary Craft,
Art with Heart honors Dr. Rafael
Espada and features a silent auction of professional and
student art. A luncheon event, First Aid, follows the next day. Dr. Susannah Heschel, the Eli Black Associate Professor
and Chair of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth University, presents
Your Compassionate Spirit: An Interfaith Dialogue at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory.
4th Annual Parsley Charity Golf Classic: In
2003, the
children of Robert and Georganna began the Parsley Charity
Golf Classic to honor their parents, who believed deeply in giving back
to the community. Mr. and Mrs. Parsley served on the Board
of Directors of San José Clinic and were ardent supporters of
the Clinic throughout their lives. Held August 24th at the
Redstone Golf Club, the event raises $56,000. With Board
Member Phil Morabito's influence, San José Clinic is
the recipient of the funds raised.
New building site land purchased: By December,
CHRISTUS Foundation for Healthcare purchased site for San José
Clinic's
new home. The Midtown block, bordered by Fannin,
McGowen, San Jacinto, and Dennis streets, is located near the
MetroRail and several bus routes providing easy access for
patients and volunteers.
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2001: In December. San José Clinic opens its first
satellite branch in the
Spring Branch Development Center. It provides pediatric, women’s health and
dental services
in a unique, collaborative environment
with a cadre of other social service providers.
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1960’s—1980’s:
Collaborative agreements with some of Houston's most prominent
medical institutions formalizes and increases available
services. With the help of teaching and faculty partnerships and the
generosity of many private practice doctors, San José
Clinic can offer a wide array of medical services to
the uninsured. In 1981, the Charity Guild of Catholic Women
pledges an annual gift of $50,000 for the pediatric clinic,
which continues to this day.
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1956:
The Clinic moves to its
present site, 301 Hamilton Street, opening to patients on
March 29th. The Scanlan Foundation provides the $160,000
fire-proof and air-conditioned building. Its 4,600 square
feet is divided into 24 rooms to provide medical and dental care."
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1954:
Construction of a "new super highway" forces the Clinic to move
from Canal Street to Clayton Homes, 1919 Runnels Street, where two connecting
apartments are temporarily converted. There is also a
change in leadership from the Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate
Word.
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1947:
Following the war, the Board
of Directors reorganizes and reopens the Clinic. On March 19,
Feast Day of St. Joseph, Bishop Christopher Byrne blesses the
building, renamed as San José Clinic. The Clinic begins
charging a small fee, 50 cents, for the initial visit
and the cost of the medicine. The patient might pay 25 cents
for a future visit and 5 cents for medicine, Epsom salts and
boric acid.
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1946: The supervision of the Clinic
is
turned over to the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception from
Patterson, NJ. With many of the Clinic's volunteers serving in
WWII, Clinic use declines. However, the City of Houston
uses the Clinic
building to distribute inoculations and food.
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1940: An October 6th Houston Chronicle
article extols the accomplishments of the
Clinic: "…over 1,000 patients per month are treated …and
over 1,200 prescriptions are filled. How the clinic does so
much on such a small amount of money is the result of the work
of a practical group of women who manage the clinic so
efficiently. All the Doctors donate their services. . . . The
place is medically ship-shape and scrupulously clean. Patients
are treated by specialists…" |
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1938:
To date, many of the volunteers who were with the Clinic in 1924
remain, including the ladies of the N.C.C.W., the Charity Guild
of Catholic Women, and many of the doctors. More than 1,300
patients and their family members attend the first Christmas
party. School age children are given a toy, candy and fruit while
infants receive clothing and a rattle. The Christmas party
becomes an annual San José Clinic event.
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1932: By November 1932, a total of 13,623
patients have received care. According to the Harris
County Medical authorities, the infant mortality rate among
the Houston's Mexican population drops by 65% with the establishment of the Clinic.
There are four paid staff members: a social worker, a
supervisor and two assistants. Volunteers provide all other services,
including adult
medicine, dermatology, ENT, pre-natal care, pediatrics,
laboratory and dental treatment. The Community Chest donates
half of the Clinic's $500 monthly expenses.
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1925: A
move into
a well-constructed frame house at 1909 Canal Street provides
the Clinic with much needed space. A large front porch serves as a
waiting room for the overflow of patients and offers a place for the
children to play. On the first day of the Clinic, one elderly
patient is treated. He must have spread the good word as a large number of mothers
with their
babies, and some adults, receive treatment the following day. In 1928, the Clinic
changes its name to "Mexican Clinic" and becomes a
member of the Community Council, known now as the United Way of Greater
Houston.
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1922/24: Identifying a high mortality rate
among Mexican children in Houston, the bishop of the Diocese of
Galveston asks the newly formed National Council of Catholic
Women (N.C.C.W.) to open a health
clinic to address this problem. With a $50.00 loan
from Msgr. George Walsh the women rent a frame house at
1900 Franklin Street and open what is known now as San José
Clinic. Then, the sign over the door read "CLINICA GRATUITA."
With volunteer doctors,
dentists, nurses and other medical professionals and donations from
friends, drug companies and hospitals, the clinic's work begins.
It also begins a relationship between the newly organized Charity Guild of Catholic Women and
San José Clinic that endures today. |
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