Bracelets Support Health Care
POINCIANA — After a brief physical at the Primary Care Medical Services of Poinciana center, Maria Victoria Fernandez, a 50-year-old Colombian native who lives in Poinciana, took a minute to express her gratitude for being able to receive medical care in her neighborhood.
“It’s not just useful; it’s necessary,” said Fernandez. “Otherwise, I’d have to drive all the way to Kissimmee. And I’m glad that they are going to build [a new building] — that will be even better.”
With the same tenacity they used for three years to get funding for a health center, community leaders in Poinciana are taking on a new challenge — building a permanent facility to house all those long-awaited services.
The symbol for this goal is an orange/pink glow-in-the-dark bracelet emblazoned with the motto: “I feel like a Million Bucks $$$ Helping Keep Poinciana Healthy.”
Hundreds of these bracelets went on sale last week for $3 each as part of a two-pronged fundraising effort to make the new building a reality.
“We want to see everyone in Poinciana wearing one,” said Jeanette Coughenour, manager of the Association of Poinciana Villages and member of the board of directors for Poinciana Primary Care Services. “There’s a lot of community pride involved here.”
With the bracelets and the continuing Recognition Tree campaign, the Poinciana Area Council (PAC) and the board of directors of the medical center hope to raise one-third of the approximately $3 million the building will cost.
Another million will come from the Osceola County Health Department and the third million from federal funding. Thanks to the contributions from the Recognition Tree campaign, $5,000 has been collected since spring.
The Recognition Tree is a mostly bronze sculpture that will be placed in the lobby of the new building. Every leaf of the tree will represent a minimum donation of $100 and will bear the name of the giver, while stones will represent a minimum donation of $2,500. Both stones and leaves will represent a larger donation according to the color — bronze, silver or gold.
Currently the health center is housed in a portable unit behind the Poinciana library branch on Doverplum Avenue. The permanent center would be on the same parcel.
Patients there have access to not only basic medical services but also to services from the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) and immunizations. Its services are available to help the underinsured and the uninsured.
“We feel very optimistic and we want everyone to be involved,” said Lili Patrick, the chairwoman of PAC. “There is great need for this in our community.”
According to a study by Community Vision, an organization that analyzes the needs of Osceola County, 29.2 percent of county residents have no medical insurance.
The center has about 400 clients every week, including medical visits and the maternity program, but excluding patients who come in for immunizations, said Janet Rodriguez, administrative assistant of the center since its inception in September 2004.
The majority of these patients live in the 34758 and 34759 ZIP codes of Osceola and Polk that Poinciana straddles, Coughenour said.
The bracelets are sold at the health center and at the APV as well as at the First National Bank of Poinciana, Poinciana Elementary, Discovery Middle School and Poinciana High School.
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