$1.6 million grant undergirds medical center’s care of Miami’s uninsured
By
CAROLYN NICHOLS
Newswriter
Published March 12, 2009
MIAMI (FBW)—Miami Baptist Association’s Good News Care Center has received a three year grant totaling $1.6 million from Baptist Health South Florida.
Mike Daily, church and community missionary with MBA and founder of the care center, told Florida Baptist Witness the grant will undergird the ability of the center to continue to provide health care for Miami-Dade’s uninsured residents.
Daily said the volunteer physicians at the Good News Care Center treated more than 4,000 patients in 11,000 visits in 2008, providing the value of $14 million in medical care. The clinic has been housed in a modular building on the campus of First Baptist Church in Florida City since the clinic’s inception in 1996.
This is a wonderful, powerful ministry,” Daily told the Witness. “We are giving a cup of water in Jesus name when we give people peace of mind about their health.”
Good News Care Center grew out of an annual health fair that began in 1988 to serve the area’s migrant population. From the beginning, the ministry received funds from the Maquire State Mission Offering, “a vital part of what we are doing here,” Daily said.
In addition to the medical care, the Good News Care Center also provides in-home visitation, a ministry headed by Carlos Knapp, the center’s chaplain.
Most of the 120 professions of faith among the center’s patients result from the visitation volunteers’ work, Daily said.
“These visits are done with great sensitivity because we are going in Jesus’ name,” Daily said.
Locally, Baptist Health South Florida has been supportive of the clinic since it opened, Daily said, providing volunteer physicians, services and medicines.
The $1.6 million grant ensures a continued relationship with Baptist Health through 2010, he said.
Daily, who has worked with Miami Baptist Association since 1987, has become accustomed to grant writing—requesting funds from charitable foundations that support specific causes. Along with money from Baptist Health South Florida, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also provided funds to begin the Good News Care Center.
“I collaborated with people who write grants, and learned from them,” he said. “It really is just a process of learning what grant makers are looking for.”
So far in 2009, the clinic has received many more requests for assistance than in the past, and Daily attributes the increase to jobs and/ or insurance lost in the difficult economy. While the poverty level for a family of four is $22,050, the Care Center may qualify patients at 200 percent of poverty level, he said.
With the increased need throughout the state, Daily encourages Florida Baptists to explore the possibility of establishing free clinics in their communities. He has written a notebook of guidelines “for others to follow” in beginning local medical ministries.
The publication is available through the Church and Community Ministries Department of the Florida Baptist Convention by e-mailing mjohnston@flbaptist.org, or calling 800-226-8584, ext 3113.