WC Wisconsin News

Tomah Health Community Foundation has made a contribution to support local healthcare services. On March 18, Brian Eirschele, president of the foundation, presented a $1,000 ceremonial check to Michael Saunders, M.D., medical director of St. Clare Health Mission of Monroe County.

The donation aims to assist families in need of medical care who cannot afford it. "Health is everything in this world. It’s so important to sustain a healthy life and the foundation has been believing in that goal for over 25 years now," stated Eirschele.

Saunders highlighted the importance of such donations for their operations at the clinic located on the Mayo Health System Sparta campus. "We use donations like this to purchase pharmacy pharmaceutical supplies and software for our pharmacy program and other things that help support the services that our many volunteers provide to our patients," he said. He further emphasized, "Without this type of support, we would not exist."

St. Clare Health Mission was established in 1996 as a non-profit organization providing medical care for uninsured adults at its Sparta clinic. The clinic operates on the first and third Tuesday evenings each month without requiring appointments.

"We see adult patients primarily because we’re just an every other week clinic. It’s primarily chronic problems," Saunders explained, noting conditions like diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and COPD are common among their patients.

The mission relies heavily on volunteer staff comprising physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, certified medical assistants, pharmacists, social workers, and clerical personnel. "Obviously, we couldn’t do this without our volunteers. Tomah Health has been a tremendous source of volunteers for us," Saunders acknowledged.

Patients express significant appreciation for the care provided by these volunteers.