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Operation: County Fair

By VVAW

Serve the People - Build the Clinic

Operation County Fair is a national project of VVAW/WSO. The purpose of OCF is to provide the rural community of Bogue Chitto, Alabama with adequate medical care and a clinic to provide this help. Why Bogue Chitto? VVAW/WSO has been asked by the black community there to help because they need medical facilities -- something that the predominantly white city of Selma has not provided. White doctors in Alabama will not touch their black patients and even have separate examination rooms for black people.

In March of this year the clinic was officially incorporated in the state of Alabama under the name Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Clinic. The purposes of the clinic are to provide medical, dental, psychological, legal, social and related services to anyone requesting them. It is a free clinic and no one is excluded because of inability to pay. No one is excluded because of race, religion, sex, age or national origin and the services will not be segregated.

There are currently two full-time nurses in Bogue Chitto, both members of VVAW/WSO. They are engaged in teaching medical skills to community people so that the community will be able to provide its own medical care. One of the nurses is currently traveling across the country to visit other medical clinics to see how best to set up the Bogue Chitto clinic. She has already visited two clinics in New Mexico.

The needs of the clinic are great. It is no easy task to start a medical facility from scratch. One of the greatest needs of the clinic is the desire to have a full or part-time doctor living and working at the clinic. Baring the possibility of this, any doctors that are willing to give telephone consultations with the clinic staff should be sought out. Besides medicine, the clinic needs office equipment, towels, soap, health/education literature, school books, sterile water, fetus scopes, equipment for delivering babies, anti-hypertensives, tools (picks, saws, hammers, etc.), and clothing.

The single greatest need is money. Considering the location of the clinic, it is not likely that the black community in Alabama can provide sufficient funds since the majority live well below the poverty level. Any individuals that can spare a few dollars (or something more substantial) should send it directly to the clinic address listed below.

Health care is a right and should be provided from birth, free of cost. Medical services should be de-professionalized and de-mystified. By supporting Operation County Fair, we are combating racism in America and are bringing people of all backgrounds together. Help us build the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Clinic. Contributions should be sent to: Linda Regnier, RR1, Box 85, Browns, Alabama 37624. Further information about the clinic and OCF may be obtained from the National VVAW/WSO office in Chicago.

MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE