PROJECT TITLE:
The establishment of a Holistic Community Health Clinic in the old Fire Station #6 at 101 23rd St., Seattle, by Dr. John Ruhland and a coalition of supporters.

Mission Statement:
To work with the City of Seattle in order to create a clinic in the South End that reaches out to all people, independent of their ability to pay for healthcare. We seek to create a public / private partnership in order to ensure the most successful outcome.

Dr. Ruhland’s Statement:
Autumn 2013, my 15th year of practice, is the target time to open a new holistic clinic in the Central District to serve the health needs of Seattle residents, regardless of income. For thirteen years, I have run a clinic on Beacon Hill. Prior to that I worked in Bellevue for Dr. Leo Bolles, a pioneer in the field of alternative medicine. My current clinic is outgrowing its residential location. The proposed plan is to partner with the City of Seattle and move to a commercial property – Fire Station #6 at the corner of 23rd Ave. S and Yesler - which The City is likely to sell as surplus property. The site is large enough to accommodate new practitioners and staff who are interested in serving the South End community. The staff will consist of paid and volunteer employees.

Background Information:
Natural healthcare, or “green medicine,” has the promise of being low cost and gentle on the environment. In exchange for providing a building for a natural healthcare clinic, I am offering the City of Seattle my own and other interested practitioner's skills and talents to provide care for low income and urban residents who otherwise have little access to natural healthcare. Our clinic’s goal will be to offer complementary healthcare and to collaborate with the three existing community clinics in this area.

There is a need for such a clinic as there are many people of limited income who come from cultures where traditional herbal medicine is what is most trusted. The proximity of the building to the Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center and the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic make it an ideal location for a complementary medicine clinic to work together in serving and building the community. In addition to being an ideal geographical location for serving South End residents, the old Fire Station building stands as a beacon within the community.

It is also an ideal location for serving another group of people I have long been interested in serving. Most of the Firefighters I have worked with are retired and in advanced stages of cancer. I would very much like to reach these publicly minded City employees long before they become ill, and get them on detoxification programs.

Currently I am building support, both in terms of staffing and financing, for this clinic. We will need money, practitioners, volunteers, and an effective space to run a larger clinic. My current patient load will help subsidize the people who cannot afford to pay for care. Now more than ever do we need to come together as community in order to get through difficult economic times, and to overcome the increasing violence in our community.

We are asking the City’s participation in several areas: providing a building, and advertising for volunteers to participate (seniors, youth, etc). The greater the support, the more low / no income patients we can serve.

With my experience working at the homeless clinic in Pioneer Square 15 years ago (Sound Clinic), and at the Homeless Youth Clinic in the 45th Street Clinic, if provided the assistance requested of the City, I have the experience to attract the practitioners, patients, and volunteers required to create a successful holistic community clinic.

            Dr. John Ruhland, ND - June 22, 2012