13th Annual Dinner Fundraiser

Dear Friend,

We hope this letter finds you and your family, friends and co-workers well as we enter the new year. 2021 continued to challenge us all and redefine our definition of “normal.” Despite the many challenges, FernCare continues to be southeast Michigan’s only community-supported free clinic, and we are committed to providing health care to those in our community who are uninsured. We are proud to be a trusted resource for people looking not only for help with healthcare, but for many of life’s other realities as well. We provide access to assistance with utility and housing, preventing foreclosure, local shelters, legal aid, accounting and job training and opportunities.

As successful – and fun! – as our December 2020 virtual dinner was, we’ve missed you and want to invite you to celebrate with us in person at FernCare Free Clinic's 13th Annual Fundraising Dinner – a Celebration of All We’ve Missed. In order to more safely celebrate our successes and those of our patients with you, we’re moving the event to April 28, 2022 at the historic Crofoot in downtown Pontiac. We hope you will consider helping us continue to fulfill our mission by sponsoring the event. As an event sponsor, you will receive tickets to the event as well as recognition of your gift. Please join us for a lovely evening filled with celebrations of so much of what we’ve missed and help us create memories anew!

As challenging as it was, FernCare made several significant strides in 2021, including fully migrating into an electronic medical system (EMR), which eliminates mistakes made by illegible handwriting, affords the ability to immediately recognize high risk patients and more. In addition, we have implemented a telehealth program, disease management programs for high-risk patients and began offering mental health counseling with Southfield Mental Health Associates. We are also a teaching clinic, working with students from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and College of Osteopathic Medicine and Wayne State University School of Pharmacy. We look forward to growing these partnerships and programs even further in 2022!

FernCare continues to be a rock of stability in a confusing and shifting health care landscape, with over 1,500 patient visits in 2021 and answering over 2,100 phone call and walk-in inquiries from people looking for health care and other assistance. We are a trusted resource serving patients who would otherwise have gone without primary health care. Thanks to our amazing medical and other volunteers, who put in nearly 3,900 hours of service, we keep our operating costs very low. We provide a wide range of health care services for about $162 per patient for the same lab tests and generic prescriptions that you’d receive a general practitioner’s office, plus disease management mental health counseling, insurance enrollment assistance and more.

We’ve made a lot of progress, but there is still work to be done! Costs continue to rise, demand for our services is still as high as it ever was, and we need your help! We are proud to serve Michigan’s uninsured and know that we are making a difference in the wellbeing of our patients and our community.

Thank you so much for your support and being on this journey with us.

Dan Martin
Executive Director, FernCare Free Clinic Inc.
248-672-4067 or dmartin@ferncare.org