Dear all,
Thank you for supporting Salaam Clinic. With your donations and support, you are actively saving lives by supporting safety-net healthcare in northeast Ohio.
I am proud of the work we are able to do thanks to supporters such as yourself. Since starting operations in October of 2019, we have been able to affect thousands of lives positively, treat hundreds of individual patients who are uninsured or underinsured, and we have been able to educate tens of thousands through our outreach and educational efforts.
“…you know, he wanted me to make sure you all know, that he credits Salaam Clinic with saving his life.”
It will always amaze me at the stories that come from our clinic. If I could, I would list each patient interaction…but let me share with you one story about how we all collectively saved a life.
The patient walked in, deciding that he would have a checkup as it is free and in a comfortable location (in a community center). He hasn’t been to the doctor’s office in quite some time. His situation was such that visiting a physician was a low priority due to changing life situations and financial stressors. Our volunteer physicians were able to detect an unwanted weight loss (which is often a red flag for other problems). And after the patient had the appropriate follow up with referrals, the patient had a relative come in to let us know that we saved his life. The patient had a tumor, and without the appropriate care, he would have passed away.
There are two takeaways from this story.
- The first is obvious, that with a simple checkup, we can save lives.
- The second is not so obvious. The lives we affect are often not just the patient’s life, but that of their families as well. The patients we see are often sole breadwinners or caretakers of other family members. They often have to pick and choose between medications and doctors visits, or a paycheck. They also often have limited financial resources to use for their own care. So when we treat a patient, we aren’t just treating the patient in and of themselves, we are treating the community at large.
The reality of funding in the peri and post COVID-19 era
Two main challenges occur during a pandemic when it comes to healthcare organizations, especially nonprofit healthcare organizations.
One is healthcare itself. Resources can run out or are forced to be reallocated. In our clinic’s case, we had to shut down physical visits for a time and turn to continued care through telehealth services, while at the same time ensuring safety for all for restarting physical visits (which have begun as of now).
The other is fiscal. Our fundraising took a huge hit. We expected $150,000 in funding for the clinic project this year; however, due to canceled fundraisers, events, and paused grant-seeking activities, we achieved around half of that.
Not all is bleak, however, and we have reason to be hopeful for the future. We received our first grant of over $15,000. The Cleveland Foundation and the rapid response fund granted us $25,000 to restart physical visits and expand telehealth and electronic medical records. Though this is far from the first-year goal of $150,000, it can not be stressed enough that this amount was unexpected once the situation changed. That is to say, we expected only $10-15,000 to come in during the pandemic and shortly after without any fundraising events, and we achieved beyond that. We are working hard on a new fundraising plan and renewed grant seeking efforts, with exciting new partnerships starting to form and take shape in this “new normal” world.
Salaam Clinic plans for the future:
The long term goal has always been a tertiary care hospital with an affiliated teaching institution. Our community deserves it. And we owe it to the larger community as a form of commitment at the highest level of professionalism and education; from our organizations and communities to our neighbors. The steps to get there are many, but attainable over a period of time of sustained growth and fiscal responsibility.
In the medium term, we are still looking for our own standalone clinic with a staffed provider and administration, alongside a team of volunteer physicians, nurses, physician assistants, students, and others leading the way. We are also looking to expand the free clinic program to other nonprofit organizations and institutions such as other area mosques, community centers, and other nonprofit centers, etc.
In the short term, we are creating exciting new partnerships with local hospitals and other healthcare-related nonprofits, while planning to extend our free clinic project to other areas. We also have some exciting, innovative, and “out of the box” type relationships that we hope will blossom soon.
Once again, we must sincerely thank you for supporting Salaam Clinic and to help save lives. Your support is everything to us and to the patients we serve.
Syed Shoaib Z Shah MD
Chief Executive Officer, Salaam Clinic
