Bill Text: VA HR321 | 2019 | Regular Session | Enrolled


Bill Title: Commending Health Brigade.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-1)

Status: (Passed) 2019-02-20 - Bill text as passed House (HR321ER) [HR321 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2019-HR321-Enrolled.html

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 321
Commending Health Brigade.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 19, 2019

 

WHEREAS, Health Brigade, a Richmond-based clinic providing high-quality health services to those least served, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018; and

WHEREAS, Health Brigade was established in 1968 as the Fan Free Clinic, a small community clinic patterned after similar efforts in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood; it was incorporated two years later and was the first free clinic in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, in the late 1960s and the 1970s, Health Brigade championed women's access to oral contraceptives, providing safe birth control in the light of day; staff wore arm bands identifying themselves as medical personnel and went into street protests to provide first aid; and

WHEREAS, Health Brigade provided primary care to the poor and uninsured; in the 1980s, staff members were early responders to the world's AIDS pandemic, sending out care teams to support those living - and dying - with AIDS; volunteers warmly embraced those who had been abandoned by family, friends, the community, and society; and

WHEREAS, in the 1990s, as HIV/AIDS became a manageable chronic disease, Health Brigade shifted its focus to HIV/AIDS education, prevention, testing, and support services; it came to be known as a place where people could obtain services and support if they were infected or affected by HIV/AIDS; and

WHEREAS, Health Brigade ushered in a new millennium by welcoming the transgender population a decade before transgender had become the mainstream word it is today; the clinic expanded its free mental health services well before headlines about mass shootings became tragically commonplace; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That Health Brigade, a Richmond-based clinic providing high-quality health services to those least served hereby be commended for celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Health Brigade as an expression of the House of Delegates' admiration for the clinic's dedication to fearlessly addressing the health issues of the day.

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