Extreme makeover, health clinic edition: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com
NEW PORT RICHEY – Cable television is filled with flashy home renovation shows. Many are the product of Hollywood directors who carefully supervise the driving of every nail.
Unlike the emotion-filled, multi-camera, star-driven home renovation extravaganzas, Jon Hall works quietly. He runs Advanced Restoration in Port Richey, specializing in repairing homes with water, mold or other damage.
Hall is preparing for a long weekend of hard work. He and some of his employees will do a major renovation project at the Good Samaritan Clinic.
“We want to give back to a community that has given so much to us,” Hall said.
The Good Samaritan Clinic is where the poor and uninsured go for free health care. More than 4,000 patients are treated there for free every year, and the demand for service is growing.
“When they pull into our parking lot, this is their last means. They’ve let their diagnosis go so long and when they walk in our door they are very sick,” explained Melissa Fahy, the CEO at Good Samaritan.
As the clinic serves the needs of the sick for free, the building itself has become a little sick.
“The outside of the building, the mold, the structure being cracked, the wear and tear takes its toll,” Fahy said.
Hall decided to ask the New Port Richey business and civil leaders to recommend something that could benefit from a restoration project that would be donated by Advanced Restoration.
Good Samaritan was selected.
“We’re going to fill all the cracks, we’re going to apply sealer, we’re going to paint the whole thing, repaint the curbs, scrape all those and take care of any other issues that need to be taken care of while we’re here,” Hall said.
The clinic gets no state or federal funding. Building restoration is not in the clinic’s budget.
“You just never know where the next dollar is going to come from, or what we’re going to do next,” according to Fahy.
There may have been no surprise announcement about the project, but there was a lot of emotion.
“We were just doing a dance in the hallway, and everyone was just ecstatic,” Fahy recalled.
The recession that brought so many people to the Good Samaritan Clinic has been tough on the construction industry as well. So why donate thousands of dollars worth of supplies, equipment, and time?
“It feels good,” said Donald Polson who will do all the painting work. “Anybody can write a check for a donation, but actually getting out there and doing the work is totally different. They do a lot for the community here. It’s just giving back.”
Saturday will be the big construction day. For more information, visit www.drymeout.com or e-mail Melissa Fahy at mfahy@goodsamclinic.org.
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