Prior Lake, Minnesota - St. Mary's Health Clinic in Shakopee, Minnesota, recently received a donation of $25,000 from the SMSC for free health care for low-income patients without insurance or medical assistance. The Shakopee Clinic, one of nine sites which provide free health clinics, is run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet of the St. Paul Province.

The clinics provide free health care services including patient visits to the clinic, lab tests, x-rays, diagnostic tests, and most medications. Specialty referrals are also available without charge. The Shakopee Clinic serves a largely Hispanic population; more than 85% of the patients at the Shakopee clinic do not speak English. "Your support helped us provide interpreters so non-English speaking patients could be treated with dignity and understanding. The SMSC supported the St. Mary's Clinic in Shakopee in 2003 with a grant for $25,000 and in 2005 with a grant for $35,000.

Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Chairman Stanley Crooks said, "We believe everyone should have access to health care. We are happy to be able to help."

"Thanks to the generosity of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, in our 2005 fiscal year our St. Mary's Health Clinic in Shakopee provided health care at 57 percent more patient visits than 2004. Our Shakopee clinic site is the busiest of the 11 clinic sites. This weekly clinic was in operation 100 times last year and saw a total of 1,132 patient visits, averaging 11.3 patients per session. With your grant, we have been able to maintain our expansion to two clinic sessions per week and to see the additional patients who need health care. Thank you again for your generous support. We could not have provided this health care without your help," wrote Ralph Scorpio, Director of Development for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. "On behalf of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the staff, volunteers, and patients of St. Mary's Health Clinics, I wish to thank you for awarding the Clinics the $25,000 grant. Thank you for your commitment to St. Mary's Health Clinics and to the uninsured people of the Shakopee area."

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