A voluntary organisation called Health and Dentistry that provides a free service to poor and uninsured people could close if rumours of federal funding cuts are true.

The centre currently gets $1 million off the Federal Government to offer services to people in the local area. However this is under threat; it also amounts to a quarter of its yearly budget.

The Chief Executive Officer of Health and Dentistry, Stephanie Wiersma told local reporters: “It would leave a crater we won’t be able to fill.”

Ms Wiersema added: “Lorain County Health & Dentistry became a federally qualified health centre in March 2009 and was awarded funds to care for the most vulnerable people in the community. About 11,000 patients a year are treated at the centre’s facilities…which employ 48 people.”

Local Representative, Betty Sutton is trying to stop the funding cut. She told reporters: “It is a bad idea to cut funding to our community health centres, which serve a critical need in our communities. They are often the only help for many, including children, and in these tough economic times, it is more important than ever that we work to keep them open.”

Stephanie Wiersma echoed this by saying: “Last year, 36 percent of the centre’s patients were uninsured, up from 16 percent in 2008. If funding is eliminated, the hospitals will have to provide even more care to the indigent.

“The big worry is these people will have nowhere else to go, so they’ll go to the emergency room.”