KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Officials with Kalamazoo’s Family Health Center says they will mark a half-century of service with their “50 Acts of Kindness” campaign through the remainder of 2021.
Family Health Center President and CEO Denise Crawford says “50 Acts of Kindness is designed to surprise, support and appreciate all the people who have shared in making our founding dream come true: healthcare for anyone, regardless of ability to pay.”
Starting September 1, FHC staff will embark on a range of actions aimed at touching lives in meaningful ways, both large and small. Crawford says they include:
· Spearheading fundraisers for local nonprofits;
· Assembling care packages for individuals serving in the military;
· Surprising local diners with a free meal;
· Providing school supplies to Kalamazoo Public Schools classrooms;
· Offering pop-up wellness clinics in local neighborhoods;
· Hosting neighborhood garage sales and movie nights; and
· Volunteering to clean neighborhoods, plant trees and serve meals.
Crawford says FHC will celebrate employees as well. “We have a truly dedicated team of health care professionals who bring the very best of care to patients every day. They are the reason we’re able to keep serving our community in countless ways,” she notes.
FHC was founded in 1971 at a time when only one doctor’s office and no dental clinic served the Northside neighborhood. Charles Alexander, M.D., the city’s first African American physician, helped lead the charge to create a nonprofit medical clinic to address the need. Joining the effort were civil rights leader Moses Walker, Kalamazoo Vice Mayor Gilbert Bradley and Kalamazoo County Commissioner Rev. B. Moses James. Together with local citizens they established the Kalamazoo Community Health Center, later to become Family Health Center
Over the years, FHC has expanded to provide quality healthcare in a number of needed areas like family practice, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, immediate care, specialty care, transgender care, laboratory tests and screenings, dental care, behavioral and mental health care, medical social work, substance use disorder treatment, physical and occupational therapy, WIC & nutrition counseling, pharmacy services and integrated care management.
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