WATCH golf tournament raises $125,000
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on October 27, 2016 10:07 AM
The biggest fundraiser for WATCH, its annual golf tournament, raised more than $125,000 and may have been spurred on in part by an embattled year with the county commission to obtain county funds.
At its quarterly meeting of the board of directors Wednesday, several said the publicity may have generated more support for the cause, monetarily as well as physically.
The tournament, held two days before the hurricane, also had "good teams" and backing from the hospital, said Sam Hunter, board chair.
"We got more support from the hospital people this year. We've always had support but in the last few years it kind of dwindled down. They were a very big help to us," he said. "But going back to the commissioners, I think in a lot of ways it was a tough battle for us.
"But that publicity in the end really helped us."
In mid-August, the commission voted to bump the county appropriation for Wayne Action Teams for Community Health, or WATCH, from $110,000 to $165,000. Prior to that, though, it had been debated by county commissioners during three previous sessions, contentious at times as members deadlocked and were unable to settle on how much, or if, to fund the program.
The final vote, however, came with conditions -- including assurances that the WATCH van would go to "appropriate" neighborhoods in the county at least four times a week and provide quarterly reports on the number of patients seen in each location.
Hunter said efforts toward the tournament had begun back in June.
"I called on maybe 40 to 45 businesses. Almost every one brought up the commissioners thing -- were they going to help us and how much, those sort of things," he said. "I think it helped us in our fundraising.
"The only negative thing I would mention, people I called on, I ran into a few of our local businesses that I think have been sold. It's harder to go to New Jersey to get money."
He recommended putting together a prospect list for future years.
"Maybe find another 25 to 30 businesses who are not giving to us, to approach and make up the slack," he said, adding, "Overall, I think it was a good fundraising year for WATCH.
"One of the things that came out of the commissioners' discussion, (was) to maybe up our game a little bit on raising local funds and I think we have."
"(The public) is really interested in how the county and city are supporting us, and if they are," said board member Murray Porter.
Hunter also sent a message through board member Joe Gurley, himself a commissioner.
"I would hope that you would tell the commissioners that we struggled getting here but we appreciate the commissioners' support," he said.
Sissy Lee-Elmore, executive director of WATCH, introduced a report to the board that she said is also submitted to the county.
"The county manager received the same quarterly report and in the contract this year requested we break down the number of visits per site," she said.
Changes were made in mid-September, she said, along with adding hours, days and locations to the program's coverage.
The van, for example, increased from three days a week to four, and sites like Mina Weil and H.V. Brown parks were among stops added.
"We did increase the numbers," she said. "We're going more places and staying out longer.
"We added an hour and a half to the day so that we can put more patients in every site."
Bumping up the number of patient's seen, though, is not without glitches, she said. Patients are sicker and many need more than can be done in a 15-minute appointment, she explained.
"The problem with all these grants is they want more and more, they want more new patients, more visits, (us to teach) smoking cessation, they want us to do obesity and BMIs. They just want more and more," she said. "It's kind of getting out of hand what you can do in a short amount of time."
Mrs. Lee-Elmore explained that there is more to the WATCH program -- which also has stationary sites at the YMCA and a clinic office behind the hospital -- than just seeing patients. There are daily calls about appointments, medication checks and all the amenities of running a health care program.
"A lot of people would say that WATCH is a free clinic. We're a physician's office operating under all the laws and the legal requirements of a physician's office. We do everything but get paid," Hunter said, adding, "This is a good report. It gives all of us a little bit more information about what we do."