Ken Bennett of Slippery Rock, left, and Jean Purvis of Butler receive a check from Butler Memorial Hospital CEO Joseph Stewart. The $17,000 donation will go toward a future clinic for uninsured and under-insured patients.

Butler Memorial Hospital has made a $17,000 donation for a future clinic for uninsured and under-insured patients.

The donation, which came from the hospital's general operating fund, is earmarked to cover start-up costs for the Volunteers in Medicine clinic being organized by co-chairpersons Ken Bennett of Slippery Rock and Jean Purvis of Butler.

Purvis, who started the effort for the clinic last year after observing a similar clinic in South Carolina, said the group is in the middle of the start up process, conducting needs and financial studies, as well as trying to recruit doctors to volunteer their time.

Volunteers in Medicine helps to set up clinics for uninsured and under-insured patients staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses or retired doctors and nurses.

These primary-care clinics help to alleviate patient pressure on hospital emergency rooms, that more and more uninsured patients are relying on for doctors' care.