Kohl Wants Successor to Pursue Community Health Clinics

The man whose Senate seat is up for grabs this election year is urging whoever succeeds him, regardless of political party, to support community health clinics for low-income people.

There was no shortage of “good jobs” to staff when Sen. Kohl visited the Lake Superior Community Health Center. “Community health centers are really important. They provide enormous services at either prices that are affordable or at no cost to people who otherwise wouldn’t get served,” the senator said.

Lake Superior Community Health Center Director Mavis Brehm says there are few health centers like this one in the Midwest, and he thanks Kohl for his help. “We’re very happy for the dollars that have come to both to Wisconsin.”

Kohl is retiring after 24 years in the upper chamber. He says whoever succeeds him in January, Democrat or Republican, they should realize the importance of these health centers. “There’s no doubt that whoever is in office in the years to come is going to be required to address this, you cannot ignore it. It’s among our most important problems, most costly problems. Delivering healthcare at a price we can afford. Nobody denies the importance of the problem.”

Board member and patient Timothy Glanville believes clinics like this one in Superior are the reason he feels “fit as a fiddle” today. An accident in November of 2000 left him with two broken legs, no job and no healthcare. He said, “Obviously healthcare has done something for me, and to say that I’m going to be healthy for the rest of my life and never need healthcare, well that’s not the point. Someone is going to need a doctor at some point in their life or a dentist.”

The Lake Superior Community Health Center serves more than 5000 patients per year.