Media

>> Back to media page.

April 22nd, 2006 - Cleveland Plain Dealer - Donna J. Miller, Reporter

A New Home for Medical Care
St. Clair facility treats city's poor with respect, dignity

Homeless shelter resident William Gardner, just back to his hometown from a laborers job in New Orleans, has priorities.

"Get my health right. Get a job. Take care of my mother. She's 62," he said Friday, waiting in the new Care Alliance Medical Center on St. Clair Avenue to see a doctor about his aching back.

Another patient, Charles Williams, stretched out on a comfortable new dental chair and looked forward to the day when Dr. Nicole Harris finishes pulling his painful, broken teeth.
The $2.6 million medical clinic for the poor, paid for with grants and donations, opened April 10.

"It feels serene," Care Alliance executive assistant Marilyn Matlock-English said of the clinic's light yellow walls and blue-gray trim.

"It gives our clients the dignity and respect they deserve," clinical manager Jackie Carroll said. "This is for them. Our patients."

The clinic, just a dream 18 months ago, is a short walk from the city's large Lakeside Avenue shelter for men.

It is more than twice the size of the dilapidated former Care Alliance clinic on Payne Avenue. Staff expect to provide free medical care for 6,500 patients this year, up from 5,000 last year.

Retired architect Malcolm Cutting, best known for his work for the Cleveland Clinic, and Linda Somers, Care Alliance's chief executive, designed the medical center. Cutting donated most of his time.

"I wanted it to feel like a spring day on Lake Erie," Somers said.

A grand-opening party is planned for 4 to 6 p.m. July 11.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
djmiller@plaind.com, 216-999-4852