Samaritan Health Center
When a patient arrives, a caring professional staff rallies around them to meet their medical, dental and mental health needs. That human touch often provides the missing ingredient needed to set the patient on a path to safety and stability. The cost of treating one homeless patient for a year is around $800. If that care were provided at an emergency room, it would cost the community seven times more!
In 2021, the Samaritan Health Center served more than 1,300 patients. Those patients generated 5,442 medical and dental visits. Good Samaritan Foundation-Dayton provides significant financial support for the clinic.
The Clinic provides health and wellness services, including medical, dental and vision care, psychiatric care, chemical dependency counseling, social services, respite care, education and life-skills classes.
Too many members of our community are living at risk due to a lack of much needed health care services. With your help we can provide the necessary healthcare and training to help this vulnerable population live healthier and better lives.
1300+
Homeless Patients
Served at our Clinic
Last Year
Klein Family Donation
Expands Dental Care
Generous donations in 2012 enabled the Samaritan Homeless Clinic to expand its dental care to meet an ever-growing need. Dr. Lawrence Klein, his wife Debbie, and their daughter Jessica made a substantial contribution to the clinic after touring the facility. “We felt that God has blessed us and we were looking for a way for our family to give back to others,” said Larry Klein, a local nephrologist.
Debbie Klein was moved by both the kindness of the staff and the overwhelming needs of its patients.
“The day I visited the clinic there wasn’t an empty seat in the waiting room.” said Debbie Klein.
Dental disease is the most common diagnosis for patients at the Samaritan Homeless Clinic, accounting for 14% of all visits. The Kleins’ donation, coupled with contributions from Bernadette D’Souza, M.D., and Robert Magrino, and the Physicians’ Charitable Foundation, enabled the clinic to increase the number of hours of dental care from 16 to 36 hours a week through the end of this year, Clinic Director Diane Cummins said. Additional funding will be needed to maintain that level of care beyond 2013.
“Dentistry is not cheap or easy to provide and it’s often the first thing that people in financial trouble forego,” said Cummins. “And yet it is so important at every level—from a person’s overall health to his or her ability to get a job.”
“Dentistry is not cheap or easy to provide and it’s often the first thing that people in financial trouble forego,” said Cummins.
Meet LaDonna
Before coming to the clinic, LaDonna was wearing broken dentures held together by super glue. She didn’t have much to smile about then, the new dentures she received from SHC restored her smile. The clinic’s life skill classes built her confidence to look for work and live on her own. The clinic’s social worker helped her find housing. Soon, LaDonna had a new job and had put homelessness behind her. The clinic’s programs fueled LaDonna’s success, but it was donors who lit the spark.
Impacted by one of our programs and want to share?
Thousands of Dayton-area patients, families, and employees have benefitted from the generosity of those who give to the Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation. Maybe you’re one of them. Tell us the impact that generous giving has made on you so we may encourage others to Make Amazing Things Happen.