Healthcare Available for Local Artists

The Artist Relief Fund and the Lake Superior Community Health Center Announce Partnership

March 25, 2009 (Duluth, MN)..... The Artist Relief Fund and the Lake Superior Community Health Center are thrilled to announce their new program, Artists' Access to Healthcare - North.

This partnership between the two community based nonprofits will help provide free or low-cost healthcare to individual artists in the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota and Douglas and Bayfield Counties of Wisconsin. Beginning March 25, 2009, individual artists may apply to the Artist Relief Fund for a voucher to be used at the Lake Superior Community Health Clinics located at 4325 Grand Avenue in Duluth or 3600 Tower Avenue in Superior.

"Health care is a major concern for the artists we serve. Many are self-employed and have little or no insurance," says Erika Mock, President of the Artist Relief Fund. "We are very excited to be partnering with the Lake Superior Community Health Center to provide artists with a new option for affordable healthcare. Helping artists connect to options for healthcare, especially preventative care is an important goal of the Artist Relief Fund. This program is a perfect start towards that goal, and we hope that the partnership will be able to grow to provide even more healthcare for area artists."

Wende Nelson, Executive Director of the Lake Superior Community Health Center (LSCHC) adds, "At the LSCHC, we also believe that our country should provide affordable health care for its artists. For years our clinic has provided medical care on a sliding fee scale basis for working artists (full and part-time) who do not have health insurance, so we are very excited about this partnership with The Artist Relief Fund."

We hope that Artists" Access to Healthcare - North (AAH-North) will encourage more artists to access care and raise awareness about all the employed and hardworking, yet uninsured people in Duluth, Superior and the surrounding communities. We want to thank Wende Nelson for her support in putting together this partnership and for making access to healthcare for uninsured artists a reality.

More information and applications to the program can be found on the Artist Relief Fund's website awww.artistrelieffund.org; the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council's website at www.aracouncil.org; or by calling 218-722-0952 or 1-800-569-8134.

The Lake Superior Community Health Center provides quality, affordable medical services to the community's low-income, uninsured and underinsured persons on a sliding fee scale basis.

The Artist Relief Fund's mission is to assist artists with emergency financial support and serve as a resource for information or other means of assistance available to them.