NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) — Workers at Hope Community Health Center in New Orleans say their clinic is in dire financial straits.
The center, essentially, is the medical wing of the New Orleans Family Justice Center, where many victims of domestic violence and sexual assault turn to when they need help. But now the clinic itself is in need.
“It’s an absolute desperate time. We have a few more weeks of being able to operate, if we don’t have some funding coming in,” said clinic director Jackie Saunders.
Saunders says that because the clinic is located in the same building as the local battered women’s shelter, it provides free, vital care with sensitivity through the work of sexual assault nurse examiners (also known as SANE nurses).
“After someone is assaulted, has been abused or strangled, they can come and meet with our SANE nurse,” Saunders said. “We can do a complete forensic examination and hand off any evidence to the police (if the survivor decides to file a criminal complaint). It’s just done in a much more comforting, trauma-informed way than having to go to an emergency room or something like that.”
When the clinic opened in 2019, Saunders says its budget was roughly $800,000. That budget has shrunk to about $100,000, according to Saunders.
The clinic mainly relies on grants through the national Crime Victims Fund that was established through the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. The Crime Victims Fund collects fines and penalties from people and companies convicted of federal offenses.
That fund can fluctuate on a yearly basis, but it has shrunk by almost 90% since 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Saunders says Hope Health Community Center has gotten no word on what funding will be available this year.
Saunders estimates the clinic provides services to nearly 150 patients each month, and says it has enough money to possibly last another four weeks. Beyond that, she says operations will up in the air.
“Some just won’t receive services. Most won’t receive services, and that’s heartbreaking for everyone involved,” Saunders said.
Saunders said the providers of those services also could be out of work. The clinic has 10 employees, but without the necessary funding, that could soon change.
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