Nancy Pelosi will appear at a news conference Monday with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce $1.5 million in funding for Broward Community & Family Health Centers. That money's a tiny chunk of the nearly $800 billion federal stimulus package that passed in February.
With a policy that huge, Democrats have looked for individual stories that can demonstrate its positive impact. According to the news release just issued by Wasserman Schultz's office, the centers had been ready to lay off a doctor and a nurse. Thanks to the influx of federal money, they won't need to. Rather, the centers now plan to hire 13 additional people.
The centers are located on Hollywood Boulevard, on Powerline Road in Pompano Beach, and a new facility is to open in West Park.
In this torpid economy, the community health centers have filled an important role in health care, serving patients based not on a calculation of his or her assets but rather that patient's current financial condition. So a person who may have a $250,000 home but can't afford medical treatment at a place like Memorial Healthcare can get it at the centers.