Centre Volunteers in Medicine strives to raise $10 million to renovate building, increase services
Centre Volunteers in Medicine is moving closer to its goal of raising $10 million for its new, larger facility.
Cheryl White, CVIM executive director, announced during a community event on Thursday that it had already raised more than $6 million for its “Building for a Healthier Future Campaign” through the support of CVIM supporters and the community.
The building at 2026 Sandy Drive in State College has already been purchased, but renovations will be needed to give CVIM 11,000 square feet of exam and office space in an energy efficient building with up-to-date technology.
“The limitation of space in our current 6,700-square-foot facility has greatly hindered us from a few things,” White said. “We struggled to continue to increase our volume of patient care along with need. We struggle with growing education and wellness programming such as nutrition and diabetes education, from starting new programs, and from bringing on additional volunteers.”
White said CVIM requires a facility with sufficient space for patients, staff and volunteers.
CVIM also hopes to create endowments in each of its service areas for things such as maintaining and improving equipment, “modest improvements” as needed and keeping up with the growing demand for its services, White said.
CVIM is the only free clinic in Centre County and provides medical, dental, behavioral health, case management and prescription services to low-income and uninsured individuals. More than 11,000 Centre County residents are without medical insurance and 30,000 are without dental insurance, according to a CVIM press release. The demand for services has never been higher, it states.
Speaking at the event were Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, and state Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte. White said they’ve helped CVIM secure $2.5 million in grants through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital program.
Corman said his office receives a lot of requests for dollars to help build a project and while going through requests internally, they ask if there is a return to the community and if it is supported by the community.
“This has a significant return to the community, not only just improving the health care of the citizens of this community, but also saving us dollars. They’re using this as their primary care, they’re not getting sicker, where they ended up using the ER as a place to get their primary care and so it saves us dollars,” Corman said.
Benninghoff said he likes to brag about CVIM and talk about how it has grown and evolved over the years.
“ … The volunteer hours of individuals who served there, whatever capacity, I was always very impressed. I mean, we talked about the professional crews and physicians and nurses but there’s an awful lot of other, behind the scenes, everyday citizens maybe putting an hour, maybe putting three hours a week in there. You’re giving back to this community,” Benninghoff said.
White thanked the volunteers and staff who make CVIM possible.
“To give you one example of our service and success, CVIM has administered more than 43,000 vaccines since they became available last year,” White said. “ ... It is noteworthy that we have administered more vaccines than any other free clinic in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
To learn more about the campaign or to donate, visit cvim.net/building-a-future.
