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Show M , ilMlH IMIWIBW- t t ' 1 f ' 1 I i 1 f J Park Record Thursday, April 30, 1987 Page A3 o Fridays and Saturdays i ll . II . 1 1 r ' 1 v;f I I II V I 1 ' 1 , ..J 3 Diana Maxell, director of Park City's Community Clinic, feels cuts, the clinic will have to rely more on community donations operating. Cuts threaten family by HEIDI WEST Record staff writer Federal funding cuts are threatening threaten-ing the future of the only family planning services in the SummitWasatchUtah Sum-mitWasatchUtah tri-county area those offered by the Park City's Community Clinic. Last fiscal year (FY), the clinic received $61,887, but it is slated to get, at most, $37,989 this year. The clinic may receive even less money in FY 1987 if its grant application, scheduled for oral review by the federal Health and Human Services Department (HHS) May 10, is found lacking. Although the clinic's board of directors considered several possible possi-ble avenues of action based on the funding cuts, it voted "unanimously that the program was badly needed in Park City" at its meeting April 15, said Diana Maxell, clinic director. The board's preferred course is to continue to operate the clinic independently in-dependently via a combination of federal funds (which currently account ac-count for 70 percent of its operating budget) patient fees and community donations. But, since at least $24,000 of federal funds are definitely going to be cut, the emphasis will be on private donations if the clinic is to continue. :-:'- . "Our decision Is to do an all-out public ttwareness campaign on the clinic," says Laurel Turner, clinic board president. None of the board members have much fundraising experience, ex-perience, though, so suggestions and of course, donations (tax-deductible) (tax-deductible) are welcome. The board is also thinking about combining its clinic with either other health offices in town to save on rent, or with Planned Parenthood of Utah. "Plannpd Parenthood would open a branch here if we closed," says Maxell. But, she adds, PPAU does not offer as complete a list of services as the community clinic. For instance, although both offer family planning, infertility counseling, counsel-ing, pregnancy testing and women's health care, only the clinic is the AIDS screening center for Summit County and offers education on, and treatment of, sexually transmitted diseases. "This is a transient, singles community," com-munity," says Turner, who calls the treatment program "extremely important." im-portant." Maxell also thinks Planned Parenthood Paren-thood would not be able to maintain the hours the clinic does now, or handle han-dle walk-ins or crisis emergencies like her staff does. The HHS did give the Denver regional office a little less money for family planning this year $3,714,000 instead of last year's $3,740,000. But, the Park City Community Com-munity Clinic cut was far deeper than any of the ten other programs in the region. For instance, the other Utah program, pro-gram, Planned Parenthood, will get five percent less in FY 1987 and drop 'Greening of The Parks, Recreation and Beautification Board of Park City, more commonly known as the "Rec Board" announces that the week of May 31, through June 6, 1987 has been scheduled to "Celebrate the Greening of Park City." Jo Scott, Board Chairman said, "This week has been designated to invite everyone in Park City to participate par-ticipate in activities which will focus on the beauty of our city. Members of our board have made plans which ' ...... . T , t n from $455,000 to $432,000. NOWCAP, a Jackson Hole family planning clinic, will bear the next largest cut in the region. It will slip from $179,000 to $144,000 - a 19 percent drop. But the Park City clinic will lose nearly 40 percent of its $61,000 budget of last year. Although it appears Park City has been specifically targeted for a large cut, in fact the Denver office of HHS has simply decided to change its distribution formula, says HHS public information officer Lucy Ed-dinger. Ed-dinger. "The regional administrators ad-ministrators only have to follow Title Ti-tle X guidelines," she said. Included in those guidelines is a list of factors the regions must consider con-sider in its distribution formulas, inr eluding the number of patients a clinic serves, the adequacy of the facilities, the availability of nonfederal non-federal dollars, and the number of low-income patients. . In the Denver regional office, it is the latter the number of low-income low-income patients which accounts for the changes in Park City's funds for next year. In FY 1987, a large chunk of the funding will be based on the number of patients earning what HHS designates as below poverty. For a single woman, that translates to under $5,300 a year. . "Most people that low have other federal resources available to them," says Maxell, in support of the Park City Clinic commitment to the "working poor" those who are not insured through their jobs and can't afford full-price medical care. , Because the vast majority of customers served by the clinic is not under the HHS poverty line, it will lose the portion of funding which is allocated on that basis. It amounts to $25,000. The formula is normally calculated with input from all the clinic leaders, says Maxell. But, this year the HHS decided to do things a little differently. Instead of gathering gather-ing comments from those affected, the regional office determined what the formula would be on its own, The clinics got their results in mid-March, mid-March, just about the time HHS was conducting its four-year audit of the Park City Clinic. Although the regional officials must have known about the huge cuts the clinic would be asked to take in FY 87, "they never brought it up," says Maxell. And, they asked her about procedures pro-cedures on things they had never questioned before. For instance, they spent hours asking about "picky" items, like whether Maxell's staff weighed patients pa-tients on follow-up visits to the clinic, whether the staff was able to accurately read the very simple paper dipstick when testing urine, and why Maxell had changed a birth control pill prescription for a woman having problems after only one month, when policy called for a three-month waiting period. Maxell went to Denver later in Park City' begins May 31 include: an Old Fashioned Sunday in the Park, to begin the season, a celebrity Softball game, a barn dance to dedicate the city's new maintenance building on the golf course, recycling newspapers and the planting of trees." Earlier in May, to set the tone for this week, will be the annual cleanup clean-up day on May 16. This day is to be sponsored by the Park City Chamber Bureau, and by the Park For what's what, where & when, check out the FYI page a listing of community events, classes, entertainment and more! VT Heidi West with recent federal budget and patient fees to continue services March to confer with regional HHS officials about the funding cuts and reason for such detailed questions on her clinic. It had always received rave reviews in the past, but something was definitely different this time. But she was met with stony silence. "I couldn't get anything out of the feds," she said. It's a mystery why the attitude shift has occurred, and it's even more mysterious in conjunction with the funding cuts. Although there is no intended connection con-nection on the part of its executive director, Scott Swirling, the April 15 edition of the NFPHRA (National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Inc.) newsletter mentions a Utah connection with the upcoming reauthorization of the bill which allocates Title X money. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), (D-Mass.), the senator in charge of the committee which will first hear the legislation, "is being pressured to add a special provision to the bill to give the state of Utah federal funds to conduct a demonstration project on the effect of mandatory parental consent on adolescent utilization of family planning services," reads the newsletter. Years ago, it was the Park City Community Clinic and Planned Parenthood of Utah which fought ' Utah's repeated attempts to block federal money to them because they did not inform parents of adolescents using its services. The state "lost on all levels," said Maxell, Max-ell, who wonders if this recent attack on their funding is somehow related to the state's most recent loss in Appeals Ap-peals Court in early 1987. Park City's clinic is the smallest of the 11 funded by the Denver HHS office, of-fice, and maybe that makes it "an easy target," says Maxell. The in-depth and detailed audit of her office also makes her a little nervous. ner-vous. Although she and her staff have always done very well at the grant review, this year may not be the same. "I told them I was just going go-ing to turn in the same grant proposal pro-posal with a few positive changes," she said of her visit to Denver in later March. "I said it had always worked well in the past." But, when met with only nods, she asked them to give her an assessment assess-ment of her chances of keeping the $37,000 allocated by the federal formula. for-mula. "They told me it didn't look good," she said. Maxell describes her present budget as "no frills." She uses a minimum of staff, and the rest rent, utilities, supplies is relatively relative-ly fixed. To stay open, she and the board estimate it will take a minimum of $10,000 in donations. That sounds like a lot, but Maxell is a firm believer in Park City's enthusiasm en-thusiasm over the clinic. "The community com-munity support here is excellent," she says. "We have good reason to be optimistic about it." But, she adds, "we are going to have to fight to stay open. ' ' City Board of Realtors, and the Park City Municipal Corp. "As the week draws closer," Scott continued, "look for announcements about dates and times for the specific events of "Celebrate the Greening of Park City. We know that everyone will want to enjoy this special week and work and play to make Park City look even better! " For further information contact Jo Scott, 649-7072. Classified Advertising doesn't cost, IT PAYS! 5 PM Q THE YARROWA tempting story cozy restaurant, starring alusclous buffet of prime rib, seafood special of the week, vegetableand potatodishes.saladsand fresh fruits. Running time. 5-10:30 p.m. O H'A-S'H-Slmger seives up another unmspireddmnennadrab and dratty diner. 6PM fJGIMMEASTEAK'.Ara 6 iderlomtaleofcnglhefat.n actieapsteakhouse. Don't miss our other Lunch Break A great meal deal! 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