Major Capital Campaign Underway At The Caridad Center, Florida’s Largest Free Healthcare Clinic Story by Deborah Welky • Photos by Janis Bucher
Where do you go if you live in Palm Beach County, get sick, and have no financial resources? For thousands of people each year, the answer is the Caridad Center. The Caridad organization has a small administrative staff and a team of approximately 400 medical professionals who donate their time to provide free medical, dental and outreach services to the uninsured and underserved of Palm Beach County. The value of these services has been calculated to be over $3.2 million per year, making Caridad the largest free healthcare clinic in the state. 120
february 2015 | wellington the magazine
Caridad (which means “charity” in Spanish) also saves county taxpayers an estimated $5.1 million annually in money that would have been spent on costly emergency-room visits. In existence for more than two decades, the clinic is now at maximum capacity, handling almost 26,000 patient visits per year. “There is a tremendous, growing need in the community, and it is our
hope to meet that need,” Board Member Caroline Moran said. “We have the volunteers; we just need the space for them to perform their miracles. They truly are changing — and saving — the lives of many who have nowhere else to turn.” In 2014, anticipating continued growth, the Caridad board kicked off a $5 million capital campaign with the goal of adding more medical and dental examination rooms, as well as vision services. “At the moment, the vision program is housed in a trailer in the parking