2014-01-04
The Mon General Hospital Foundation Board has approved a transfer of $20,000 to Your Community Foundation (YCF) for the benefit of Milan Puskar Health Right, subject to a matching $20,000 being raised by YCF.
"The Alphi Phi Sorority and Mon General have raised these funds over the last five years, together with the Heart Association, to educate women on the specific issues they have with heart disease and symptoms unique to women," said Darryl Duncan, President and CEO of Mon Health System. "Mon General believes this money will best be used at Health Right, where more women can receive direct care and support."
The Mon General Foundation proposes to send the $20,000 for unrestricted use, subject to the matching requirement, Duncan said. Once $10,000 has been matched, the first $10,000 would be available for the support of the Milan Puskar Health Right. The balance of $10,000 would be available when it, too, is matched.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for Mon General and YCF to build the Milan Puskar Health Right Endowment Fund that directly benefits Health Right and the people of the area who use its services," said Beth Fuller, president of YCF. "We’re calling on the community and the many generous donors who live here to help us raise the matching funds and make this financial gift a reality as soon as we can."
The Milan Puskar Health Right Endowment Fund will provide a perpetual source of income for the Health Right clinic, a primary care facility that provides health care at no cost to uninsured or underinsured low-income residents of North Central West Virginia. It was founded in 1984 by a group of concerned citizens on the premise that every person has a right to health care regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.
Originally known as Morgantown Health Right, the clinic was renamed in 2003 to honor Milan Puskar, co-founder of Mylan Pharmaceuticals, in recognition of his generous donations to Health Right since its inception.
The clinic provides primary health care with an experienced staff of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, medical assistants, social workers and therapists. Other services include medication and pharmacy assistance; specialty clinics on women’s health, cardiology, psychiatry, various diseases and HIV testing; limited dental care; and mental health outreach and counseling.
YCF manages the Health Right endowment by investing all current and future donations to increase their value and using the net income from those investments to make annual grants to the clinic.
"This matching grant program helps us to continue our momentum to attract more donations to support this worthy organization," Fuller said. "We know there are other organizations and individuals who would be willing to help us meet our matching share, and we are reaching out to ask them to come forward."
Any individual, business or organization can contribute any amount to the Milan Puskar Health Right Endowment Fund in care of YCF, P.O. Box 409, Morgantown, WV 26507.