Free gift custody Orlando clinic open longer for needy children

As many 10,000 children uninsured and underinsured in central Florida now have a clinic where they can get free medical care through an unlikely partnership between a pastor and a personal injury lawyer.

"The People's Clinic has officially opened Monday at the Destiny Foundation of Central Florida, a non-profit ministry Orlando for the working poor and their families. Although volunteers have built the facility more than a year, its dynamic room Saturday whimsically decorated empty save for one day a month.

There is no money to pay a full-time doctors, nurses or clinical staff. In a state with the third highest rate of uninsured children in the country, it seems a waste.

Then, the wife of the Rev. George Scott, Destiny's founder, happened to fall on personal injury and medical malpractice attorney John "For the people" Morgan in a restaurant one evening last year.

He asked George Tammi on the work of her husband.

"By nature I am a cynical person," Morgan told a crowd of supporters at the opening. "I came here with a kind of evil eye at first. But Scott and I met him have come to know and looked at his heart and saw what he was doing. And I said: "This is exactly what needs to be done."

The contribution of Morgan and his wife, other lawyers Ultima Morgan, is estimated at $ 500,000.

It will cover the clinic full-time operating budget in the first year, including the salary of a family doctor, a nurse practitioner specializing in development and make projections on all infants and toddlers, and mental health screenings on older children.

In addition, the clinic will provide free physical well-child, immunization, treatment of disease, eye care and dental care.

Staff also educate families about the risks of childhood obesity, diabetes and asthma and to teach parents about healthy cooking, caring for children and parents.

Although the clinic the opening ceremony was Monday, it was open to full-time since March 6. Already, he has treated over 200 children from birth to age 18, and provided 529 vaccinations.

And already the place was "a blessing" for Lisa Daniels and her 15-year-old daughter, Emily, who has a heart murmur, thyroid status and Asperger syndrome. The latter, a type of operation of the high autism can be difficult to treat.

Daniels when he lost his job as accounts payable, eight months ago, she discovered that she has too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to pay for private insurance. Several attempts to get help for her daughter failed.

"I was to my intelligence" purpose, "said Daniels. "But then someone suggested here. From the moment we walked in everyone was wonderful. They really touched my heart."

To receive care at the clinic, children must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. It is 150 W. Michigan St.
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