Carol Keehan DC – Cover the Uninsured Week

In a joint letter urging all U.S. bishops to participate in activities marking the week, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Policy, and Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is CHA president and CEO, said, “We cannot afford to remain silent while quality, affordable health care is not a reality for everyone in the country.”

“A problem of this magnitude and moral urgency requires the leadership of the Catholic community as we work to address this crisis with compassion and a commitment to justice,” they added in the March 29 letter.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — At Cabrini Clinic in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, “every week is Cover the Uninsured Week,” says Mercy Sister Mary Ellen Howard, who has directed the free clinic for more than a dozen years.

In a city with some 200,000 uninsured adults, the clinic — formally known as the St. Frances Cabrini Clinic of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church — provides medical care, prescription drug assistance and mental health services to about 150 people a week, completely free of charge.

“We’re not billing anybody,” Sister Mary Ellen told Catholic News Service. “If you’ve got Medicaid, you’ve got options” that those without any health coverage do not have, she added.

Cover the Uninsured Week