April 21 2021 – On Friday, a clinic that has long served the Florida coastal community by providing free care to uninsured patients living with arthritis will be rededicated to recognize its founders and celebrate a new partnership with the national non-profit organization, CreakyJoints, who recently stepped in to solidify its administrative and financial stability after it lost its longtime sponsor.
The dedication and grand reopening of the John Whelton Arthur Virshup CreakyJoints Florida Arthritis Clinics will be on Friday, April 23.
In attendance and making remarks will be:
•U.S. Representative Lois Frankel (F-21)
•Michael C. Schweitz, MD, a longtime volunteer rheumatologist with the John Whelton Arthur Virshup CreakyJoints South Florida Arthritis Clinic, past president of the Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations (CSRO), and past president of the Florida Society of Rheumatology
•Shawn Baca, MD, another long-time volunteer rheumatologist who is also past president of the Palm Beach County Medical Society, a member of the Florida AMA delegation, and in private practice
•Dr. Alina Alonso, director, Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County
Representative in attendance from CreakyJoints will include Louis Tharp, executive director and cofounder, Seth Ginsberg, president and cofounder, and W. Benjamin Nowell, PhD., Director, Patient-Centered Research
The clinic is being renamed after the doctors who founded the clinic: John Whelton, MD and Arthur Virshup, MD.
Additional Background:
•In 1975, a free clinic was established at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach to provide free care for uninsured and needy patients with rheumatologic diseases. For decades, it was maintained locally through a generous bequest by local resident Mary Greissler, who donated money in her will for a building managed by the Arthritis Foundation.
•Since then it has grown. Once a month, rheumatologists volunteer their time to care for patients at their private offices in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Stuart, and West Palm Beach, Florida. These patients receive consistent and high-quality care identical to patients seen in private practice and have access to laboratory and imaging services subsidized by local supporters.
•When last year the Arthritis Foundation declined to continue their support of the clinic, CreakyJoints, a digital arthritis community and part of the Global Healthy Living Foundation, stepped in to provide financial and administrative support to sustain operations. CreakyJoints saved the clinic, allowing for uninterrupted provision of vital health services to the most in-need patients.
To learn more about the John Welton Arthur Virshup CreakyJoints Florida Arthritis Clinics visit www.CreakyJoints.org/free-clinic
