Woman challenges others to help local medical clinic

ALBANY — Jurie Ross, an unemployed diabetic with back and shoulder issues, found a helping hand at an Albany clinic. Now she is asking its patients to “pay it forward” if and when they can.

Ross, 58, is unable to work, she said, and has trouble paying for her diabetes medications. In 2010, while waiting for her Social Security disability acceptance, she wound up as a patient in Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. It was there she heard about Samaritan Clinic at 802 N. Jefferson St.

“They were really good to me,” Ross said. “They talked to me about my health, and then they set me up for a physical (exam) and a mammogram. They told me I could go to Publix and get (my diabetes medicine) for free.”

According to Ross, Samaritan Clinic required proof of income for her to qualify for no-cost services.

“My challenge is for those who have been to the clinic and have a job or an SSI check to give back what you can so that more can be served,” she said. “You could make a one-time donation or give a little bit each month or both. We buy sodas and alcoholic beverages. We could sacrifice those kinds of things and give back to a place that helped us in a time of need.”

Ross said Samaritan Clinic is not the only agency in the area that provides help for the indigent and needy. Others she and her husband, Ernest, have called upon or heard about include The Lord’s Pantry, Neighbors in Need, The Salvation Army, and Mt. Zion and Sherwood Baptist churches.

“Samaritan doesn’t help just black people,” said Ernest Ross. “It’s an open clinic for anybody who needs help. White, black, it doesn’t matter.”

Ernest Ross is recently unemployed and has a workman’s compensation case pending.

While administrative personnel declined to discuss the facility and its method of operation, according to its website — www.gfcn.org — Samaritan is part of the 100-member Georgia Free Clinic Network based in Atlanta.

GFCN is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization supported by corporate and private donations, which may be made through the website. It is unclear whether donations can be made specifically to Samaritan Clinic in Albany.