OU-TULSA BEDLAM CLINIC CHOSEN AS ROTARY CENTENNIAL PROJECT

TULSA, Okla. (Sept. 30, 2003) – Fifteen Tulsa area Rotary clubs, divisions of Rotary international, have designated the University of Oklahoma Bedlam Community Health Clinic at OU-Tulsa as their Centennial Community Project.
The Bedlam Community Health Clinic, located at 2815 S. Sheridan, is a clinic to serve the underinsured, uninsured, and working poor of the Tulsa area. Staffed with volunteer physicians from OU faculty and the community, the clinic is open on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 until 10 p.m. Services are provided at no charge, but availability is based on a first-served basis.

“The clinic essentially serves two great needs of the Tulsa area,” said Dr. Gerard Clancy, dean of the OU College of Medicine, Tulsa. “First, we help those who can’t afford health care to get the help they need. Second, by providing this basic service, people have somewhere to go other than the local emergency rooms.”

Clancy said in other communities where clinics like this exist, emergency room gridlock was significantly reduced.

“The Tulsa area Rotary clubs chose the Bedlam clinic as their Centennial Community Project because it fulfills a clearly identifiable community need, provides a solution that has measurable results and can involve the active participation of Rotarians for a worthy cause,” said John O’Connor, president of the Rotary Club of Tulsa. Rotary members strive to improve the quality of life in their communities, and the Bedlam Community Health Clinic is improving the life of Tulsans by addressing their daily ailments, he said.

The Rotary clubs have pledged $100,000 to the project, as well as volunteering countless hours of service; including landscaping duties, clinic support and building maintenance. Immunizations are a very large part of the Rotarians’ service to the community, and the clubs will establish a “Be Wise, Immunize” clinic station at the Bedlam clinic.

Rotary International began in Chicago in 1905. To celebrate the upcoming centennial anniversary, Rotary clubs worldwide will choose one project to highlight with their service. Rotary clubs in the Tulsa area are combining efforts to serve one large need for the occasion.

A list of the participating Tulsa area Rotary clubs is attached. For more information about Rotary, call Margaret White at 584-7642.

For more information about the Bedlam Health Care Clinic, call Karen Mulkey at (918) 660-3098.

About the OU College of Medicine, Tulsa. The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine has served the Tulsa community since 1972. It is charged with providing clinical education each year to approximately 75 medical students and 160 medical residents specializing in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry and surgery. The college-operated physician practices handle more than 200,000 patient visits annually.

About Rotary. The main objective of Rotary is service – in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. Rotary members are professional men and women who work as volunteers to improve the quality of life in their home and world community. There are approximately 1.2 million Rotary club members in some 30,000 Rotary clubs in more than 160 countries. The Rotary motto is “Service Above Self.”

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