Tangier Island Health Foundation: January 2008

A $25,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has enabled the Tangier Island Health Foundation to complete fundraising for its first goal: purchase of the land on which a modern health clinic will be built for the residents of this remote island community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.

“Tangier is Virginia’s only island community and a national treasure,” says James N. Carter, Jr. "It is so isolated that its 600 residents still speak an Elizabethan dialect dating back to the island’s colonization in the 1600s." But the remoteness of this waterman community causes serious problems when it comes to accessing quality medical care.” Carter established the foundation last year after discovering the appalling condition of the existing clinic during a visit with Dr. David Nichols, who has piloted his own aircraft to the island every Thursday for the past 28 years to provide residents their only consistent primary health care.

The Foundation aims to build and equip an attractive, state-of-the-art facility that adheres to the island’s architectural heritage, providing a range of primary care, emergency services, and wellness and prevention programs. It will replace the existing clinic—a crumbling fifty-year-old bungalow with outdated equipment. The new clinic will also function as a base to attract additional medical providers, thus broadening the scope of medical services offered on the island.

A non-profit, community-based organization, the Tangier Island Health Foundation is committed to improving access to primary and preventive health care for Tangier‘s population. The venture is a public-private partnership, with the goal of raising $1.25 million to provide the quality of health care that this underserved population both needs and deserves.

Last year the Virginia General Assembly validated the project’s importance with a $300,000 matching grant presented to the islanders during a visit by Governor Timothy M. Kaine. Governor Kaine has since included an additional grant proposal of $200,000 for the project in his 2008-10 budget. The balance of the clinic’s funding will come from private foundations such as Kellogg, and caring individuals.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations." To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development.